In re Hadzi-Antich, 85-52.

• Docket Nº: No. 85-52.
• Citation: 497 A.2d 1062
• Case Date: August 09, 1985
• Court: Court of Appeals of Columbia District

497 A.2d 1062 In re Theodore HADZI-ANTICH, Respondent, A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. No. 85-52. District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Submitted August 6, 1985. Decided August 9, 1985.^*

Before NEWMAN, TERRY and ROGERS, Associate Judges.

ORDER

In this disciplinary proceeding, the Board on Professional Responsibility (BPR) found

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that respondent, a member of the District of Columbia Bar, violated Disciplinary Rule 1-102(A)(4) by "engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation" and recommended that he be publicly censured. Briefly stated, the evidence showed that respondent submitted a resume to a prospective employer, Southern Methodist University School of Law, which contained false information. He was hired as an Assistant Professor of Law but resigned after being confronted with the falsehoods on his resume. Further details are set forth in the report and recommendation of the BPR, which is appended to this order and incorporated herein by reference.

Respondent does not challenge the BPR's findings, but contends that the recommended sanction is excessive. We do not agree. This court must give deference to the BPR's decision and adopt its recommendation "unless to do so would foster a tendency toward inconsistent dispositions for comparable conduct or otherwise would be unwarranted." D.C. Bar R. XI, § 7(3). In this case we are satisfied that the BPR's recommendation is consistent with other dispositions involving comparable conduct. E.g., In re Molovinsky, No. M-31-79 (D.C. August 23, 1979); In re Christmas, No. M-21-76 (D.C. June 2, 1976). See also In re Lamberis, 93 Ill.2d 222, 66 Ill.Dec. 623, 443 N.E.2d 549 (1982) (respondent, a student enrolled in a graduate program, censured for plagiarizing two published works); In re Norwood, 80 A.D.2d 278, 438 N.Y.S.2d 788 (1981) (respondent censured for misrepresenting his academic credentials on his resume and giving false information about his tax returns on a job questionnaire); cf. In re Lavery, 90 Wash.2d 463, 587 P.2d 157 (1978) (90-day suspension ordered when respondent misrepresented his achievements on his resume and misused professional credentials of his law school professors). For the reasons stated by the BPR, we specifically reject appellant's argument that the sanction imposed here should be the same as that imposed in Maryland.

It is therefore ORDERED that respondent be, and he hereby is, publicly censured.

APPENDIX DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS BOARD ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY Bar Docket Number: 83-83 IN THE MATTER OF: THEODORE HADZI-ANTICH REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

This matter is before the Board on Professional Responsibility upon the report of Hearing Committee Number Eight, which has found Respondent's conduct in violation of the standards governing the practice of law in the District of Columbia. Following hearing on May 24, 1984, at which oral testimony and documentary evidence were presented, Hearing Committee Number Eight concluded that Respondent violated DR 1-102(A)(4) by "engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation." A complaint had been lodged against Respondent by his former employer when he was found to have falsified his resume in applying for a teaching position at Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas, Texas. Respondent was offered the position and subsequently became Assistant Professor of Law at Southern Methodist from August 1981, until his resignation in May 1983. On or about May 10, 1983, Dean Jeswald W. Salacuse of the SMU School of Law confronted Respondent with alleged discrepancies in information contained in Respondent's resume. Specifically, Dean Salacuse questioned whether Respondent had graduated first out of 185 students in his University of Oklahoma Law School class, had been Editor-in-Chief of the Oklahoma Law Review, or had graduated summa cum laude from the University of Connecticut in 1973, as stated in his resume. Respondent admitted the errors but claimed that a corrected

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resume had been prepared and forwarded to SMU sometime in November 1980. Officials at SMU School of Law denied having received the corrected resume. Respondent soon thereafter resigned his appointment.

DISCUSSION

Respondent's resume was prepared in April 1980, by the Resume Place, a resume printing service on 18th Street, N.W., based on information supplied by Respondent but relayed to the service by his wife. Respondent contends that his original draft was accurate but was embellished at the Resume Place by his wife and one of their editors (Tr. 31). Respondent further states that the completed resume was not used between...