In re Steinberg

• Decision Date: 02 November 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-BG-1537.,99-BG-1537.
• Citation: 761 A.2d 279
• Parties: In re Andrew M. STEINBERG, Respondent. A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

761 A.2d 279

In re Andrew M. STEINBERG, Respondent.

A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

No. 99-BG-1537.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued October 11, 2000.

Decided November 2, 2000.

Traci M. Tait, Assistant Bar Counsel, with whom Joyce E. Peters, Bar Counsel, was on the brief, for the Office of Bar Counsel.

Andrew M. Steinberg, pro se.

Before SCHWELB and WASHINGTON, Associate Judges, and NEWMAN, Senior Judge.

PER CURIAM:

In its attached Report and Recommendation, the Board on Professional Responsibility has recommended that Andrew M. Steinberg, a member of our Bar, be suspended from practice for thirty days for conduct that seriously interferes with the administration of justice. The facts on which the recommendation was based are more fully described in the Board's Report. In essence, Steinberg was extremely dilatory in responding to Bar Counsel's requests for information on two separate but chronologically overlapping matters and failed to cooperate with the investigations. Steinberg had also previously been the subject of discipline in a separate case, see In re Steinberg, 720 A.2d 900 (D.C. 1998)

(Steinberg I), in which this court ordered his suspension from practice for thirty days.

Steinberg contends that the sanction recommended by the Board in the instant proceeding is too severe. He asserts that a reprimand would have been the appropriate discipline. We are, however, required to impose the sanction recommended by the Board unless doing so would "foster a tendency toward inconsistent dispositions for comparable conduct or would otherwise be unwarranted." D.C. Bar R. XI, § 9(g). Substantially for the reasons stated by the Board, and especially in light of his prior suspension in Steinberg I, we are satisfied that Steinberg has failed to make the requisite showing. As the Board correctly stated,

attorneys cannot be allowed to willfully ignore and frustrate the efforts of Bar Counsel and the Board to obtain responses to charges of serious ethical misconduct. Attorneys must know that if they choose this course of action, the consequences will be severe.

For the foregoing reasons, Andrew M. Steinberg is hereby suspended from practice for thirty days, effective fifteen days after the date of this order. We once again direct Steinberg's attention to the requirement of D.C. Bar R. XI, § 14 and to the consequences of noncompliance with these requirements, as set forth in D.C. Bar R. XI, § 16(c). See Steinberg I, supra, 720 A.2d at 901-02

.

So ordered.

APPENDIX

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS BOARD ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

In the Matter of ANDREW M. STEINBERG, Respondent.

Bar Docket Nos. 203-98 & 372-98

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE BOARD ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Respondent stands charged by Bar Counsel in each of these two separate but chronologically overlapping matters with violating Rule 8.4(d) of the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct for engaging in conduct that seriously interferes with the administration of justice and with violating D.C.App. R. XI, § 2(b)(3) for failing to comply with orders of this Board. The gist of the two matters is that Respondent was extremely dilatory in responding to Bar Counsel's requests for information.

Respondent does not contest the facts alleged in the petition or deny that he violated Rule 8.4(d) and D.C.App. R. XI, § 2(b)(3) in each matter. Respondent's Brief at 1. Respondent's exception to the Hearing Committee's recommended sanction of a 30-day suspension with the requirement that he demonstrate fitness prior to reinstatement is that it is too severe in light of the discipline imposed in factually comparable cases involving failures to cooperate with Bar Counsel. Id. at 1-2. Bar Counsel contends that the Hearing Committee's recommendation is consistent with applicable precedents. Brief of Bar Counsel at 1.

A. Facts Underlying Bar Docket No.203-98 (Steinberg/Pillay)

1. The disciplinary complaint was docketed on or about May 1, 1998.¹ It was mailed by Bar counsel to Respondent at his address listed with the District of Columbia Bar, namely 1875 Eye Street, N.W., 12th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006 under cover of a letter requesting a response from Respondent by May 15, 1998.² No response was received and the letter was not returned to the Office of Bar Counsel.

2. On or about July 7, 1998, Bar Counsel wrote to Respondent at 1750 K Street, N.W., 12th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006, an address previously listed with the Bar, to inform him of his responsibility to submit a response within five days. This letter was returned with a forwarding address provided by the Post Office, which was the address to which the complaint had been sent originally.

3. On or about July 22, 1998, Bar Counsel re-sent its letter and the complaint to Respondent at 1875 I Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. Respondent failed to respond, and the letter was not returned.

4. On August 25, 1998, Bar Counsel filed a motion with the Board to compel Respondent to answer the docketed complaint. Respondent was served with a copy by mail. The motion included as attachments Bar Counsel's prior correspondence as well as a copy of the ethical complaint to which Respondent was being requested to respond.

5. Respondent was personally served with the motion and attachments on September 10, 1998.

6. On October 8, 1998, the Board issued an order directing Respondent to respond to the ethical complaint within 10 days of the date of the order. The Board's order was mailed to Respondent on or about October 14, 1998 at 1875 I Street, N.W., 12th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006. The order was not returned and Respondent did not respond.

7. Respondent finally responded to the complaint on or about March 8, 1999. Tr. at 15-16. In the intervening eight months to date, this complaint has not resulted in any formal charges against Respondent.

B. Facts Underlying Bar Docket No.372-98 (Steinberg/Blumenthal)

1. The disciplinary complaint against Respondent in this matter was docketed on or about August 24, 1998.³ On August 26, 1998, Bar Counsel arranged for personal service on Respondent and mailed the complaint and a subpoena duces tecum with a cover letter requesting a response by September 5, 1998. The complaint was mailed to the address Respondent provided to the District of Columbia Bar, 1875 Eye Street, N.W., 12th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006. The letter was subsequently returned by mail.⁴

2. On or about September 10, 1998, the complaint was personally served on Respondent at his residence, 7767 Astrella Court, Springfield, Virginia 22152.⁵ No response was received.

3. On October 15, 1998, Bar Counsel wrote to Respondent at his Astrella Court address and at 7505 Ridgebrook Drive, Springfield, VA 22153, informing him of his responsibility to submit a written response within five days. Respondent failed to respond; Bar Counsel's letter was not returned.

4. On or about October 28, 1998, Bar Counsel sought to personally serve Respondent with the complaint and a subpoena duces tecum at his residence, the Astrella Court address. Respondent evaded service of process.

5. On December 2, 1998, Respondent was served by mail with a copy of Bar Counsel's motion to compel him to respond to the ethical complaint which was filed with the Board. The motion included as attachments all of Bar Counsel's previous correspondence as well as another copy of the ethical complaint.

6. On January 27, 1999, the Board issued an order directing Respondent to respond to the ethical complaint within 10 days and mailed it to Respondent at 7767 Astrella Court, Springfield, Virginia 22512. This letter was not returned and Respondent did not respond within the 10 days.

7. Respondent finally submitted a response to Bar Counsel on or about March 8, 1999. Tr. at 15-16. In the intervening eight months to date, no formal charges have been lodged as to the result of this complaint.

C. Evidence in Aggravation

1. On November 30, 1998, the Court ordered Respondent suspended for a 30 day period in a reciprocal matter from Virginia involving dishonesty, failure to explain fees, failure to return the client's files and papers upon request, and failure to deliver client funds. In re Steinberg, 720 A.2d 900 (D.C.1998) (per curiam). The Court's order was mailed to 1750 K Street, N.W. even though Respondent had not had an office at that address for more than two years. Tr. at 27, 44.

2. Respondent testified before the Hearing Committee that he was not aware of the Court's November 30, 1998 Order until he received Bar Counsel's February 23, 1999 Notice of Non-Filing to the Court that he had failed to comply with the requirements of D.C.App. R. XI, § 14(g) within the 10-day period following his suspension as directed by the Court. Steinberg, at 901-902 3. Respondent still had not complied with the requirements of § 14(g) as of March 9, 1999, the date of the hearing in Bar Docket Nos. 203-98 and 372-98. He informed the Hearing Committee that he had an appointment with an attorney to deal with his suspension scheduled for March 11, 1999. Tr. at 41.

4. In another disciplinary matter against Respondent, unrelated to any of the disciplinary matters discussed above, Respondent promptly provided Bar Counsel with a response to that ethical complaint on February 2, 1999. Tr. at 15-16.

5. Respondent had been issued a prior informal admonition in 1984 in Bar Docket No. 177-84.

Discussion

Relying in large measure on In re Delaney, 697 A.2d 1212 (D.C.1997) and In re Lockie, 649 A.2d 546 (D.C.1994) (per curiam) where the attorneys received a 30-day suspension plus a fitness requirement for violations essentially the same as those charged against Respondent, the Hearing Committee recommended the identical sanction for Respondent — a 30-day suspension plus a fitness requirement. In his brief to the Board, Respondent argues that the facts underlying the sanction in Lockie were far...