Matter of Williams

• Citation: 513 A.2d 793
• Decision Date: 30 July 1986
• Docket Number: No. M-111-82.,M-111-82.
• Parties: In the Matter of Dudley R. WILLIAMS, A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Respondent.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Columbia District

513 A.2d 793

In the Matter of Dudley R. WILLIAMS, A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Respondent.

No. M-111-82.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued February 4, 1986.

Decided July 30, 1986.

Michael S. Frisch, Asst. Bar Counsel, with whom Thomas H. Henderson, Jr., Bar Counsel, Washington, D.C., was on brief, for Office of Bar Counsel.

Terrance G. Reed, with whom David N. Webster, Washington, D.C., was on brief, for respondent.

Joan L. Goldfrank, Washington, D.C., for Bd. on Professional Responsibility.

Before MACK, TERRY and ROGERS, Associate Judges.

PER CURIAM:

The Board on Professional Responsibility ("the Board") was established to promote the highest standards of professional conduct among members of the bar of this court. It dismissed a disciplinary proceeding against respondent Dudley R. Williams on the sole ground that he had not been afforded a "speedy trial" of the charges against him. Because the license to practice law in the District of Columbia is a continuing proclamation by this court that the holder is fit to do so, we regard as improper the dismissal of formal charges against respondent due only to a delay in prosecution. We remand for the Board to provide us with its findings and recommendation as to what discipline, if any, should be imposed.

I

This court created the Board on Professional Responsibility in the exercise of our inherent power over members of the legal profession. D.C.Bar R. Preamble, XI § 4. We assigned to the Office of Bar Counsel the responsibility for investigating and prosecuting complaints against District of Columbia attorneys. Id. R. XI §§ 4(3)(b), 6, & 7. Unless the allegation of misconduct has no apparent merit, Bar Counsel institutes formal disciplinary proceedings, and prosecutes the case initially before a three-member Hearing Committee appointed by the Board. Id. R. XI §§ 4(3), 5, 6(1)(d), & 7(1)-(2). The Hearing Committee submits to the Board a report containing its findings and recommendation, together with the full record of the proceedings. Id. R. XI § 7(2). The Board is empowered, normally after hearing argument, to affirm or modify the recommendation of the Hearing Committee, remand the matter for further proceedings, or dismiss the petition. Id. R. XI § 7(3). Unless the petition is remanded or dismissed, or the matter is concluded by reprimand, the Board must promptly submit its findings and recommendation, together with the entire record, to this court. Id. We hear argument, if respondent requests it, and enter the final order in the matter. Id. Our policy is to accept the Board's findings of fact, unless unsupported by substantial evidence, and to adopt the Board's recommendation unless it would foster a tendency toward inconsistent dispositions for comparable conduct, or would otherwise be unwarranted. Id.; see, e.g., In re Hines, 482 A.2d 378, 386 (D.C.1984) (per curiam); In re Roundtree, 467 A.2d 143, 147 (D.C.1983) (per curiam); In re Thorup, 461 A.2d 1018, 1019-20 (D.C.1983) (per curiam); In re Haupt, 422 A.2d 768, 771 (D.C.1980) (per curiam); In re Smith, 403 A.2d 296, 303 (D.C.1979).

In 1979 and 1980, Bar Counsel instituted formal charges against respondent, alleging numerous violations of the rules of professional conduct. D.C.Bar R. X, Appendix A. These allegations eventually resuited in the Board issuing a finding of misconduct and recommending disbarment. Because respondent had not been afforded adequate due process protections, this court declined to impose the recommended sanction. In re Williams, 464 A.2d 115 (D.C.1983) (per curiam) (Williams I). Instead, on July 14, 1983, we remanded the case back to the Board for new proceedings with all attendant procedural safeguards. Id. at 119.

On January 6, 1985, Bar Counsel responded to our remand in Williams I by refiling the identical allegations of misconduct. This time, after a hearing which afforded respondent the due process protections which were absent from the earlier proceedings, the Hearing Committee found a lack of clear and convincing evidence on the charges with respect to four out of the five aggrieved clients. Those charges were dismissed. The remaining client had retained respondent to act as settlement agent for the sale of real property. On the allegations arising out of this transaction, the Hearing Committee found respondent guilty of neglect, D.C.Bar R. Appendix A DR 6-101(A)(3), intentional failure to seek the lawful objectives of his client, id. DR 7-101(A)(1), and failure to promptly pay funds to the parties entitled, id. DR 9-103(B)(4). The Hearing Committee recommended that respondent be publicly censured for his misconduct.

In recommending this sanction, the Hearing Committee rejected respondent's argument that the proceedings against him should be dismissed for want of a speedy trial. Respondent based his motion on the delay of almost eighteen months between our remand in Williams I and Bar Counsel's eventual refiling of the identical charges. On review, the Board declined to adopt the Hearing Committee's recommendation, accepted respondent's speedy trial argument, and dismissed the disciplinary proceedings. The Board made no evaluation of the Hearing Committee's finding of misconduct, nor did it suggest an appropriate sanction. Bar Counsel petitioned this court for review of the Board's determination, arguing that a speedy trial violation, without more, is insufficient to warrant dismissal of formal disciplinary charges against an attorney.

Our rules on attorney misconduct are necessarily stringent:

Grounds for discipline. The license to practice law in the District of Columbia is a continuing proclamation by th[is] Court that the holder is fit to be entrusted with professional and judicial matters, and to aid in the administration of justice as an attorney and as an officer of the Court. It is the duty of every recipient of that privilege to conduct himself [or herself] at all times, both professionally and personally, in conformity with the standards imposed upon members of the Bar as conditions for the privilege to practice law.

D.C.Bar R. XI § 2. The same section provides, without exception, that "[a]cts or omissions by an attorney . . . which violate the attorney's oath of office or the Code of Professional Responsibility . . . shall constitute misconduct and shall be grounds for discipline. . . ." Id.

In order to enforce these principles, we created the Board. Its function is to help us ensure that members of the bar aspire to the highest standards of ethical conduct and thus continue to earn their license to practice law. We gave the Board the power and the duty "[t]o consider and investigate any alleged ground for discipline or alleged incapacity of any attorney called to its attention, or upon its own motion, and to take such action with respect thereto as shall be appropriate to effect the purposes of these disciplinary rules." Id. § 4(3)(a). We must decide in this case, therefore, whether the speedy trial policy adopted by the Board will further the purposes of our system of attorney discipline.¹

The disciplinary rules protect clients from wayward attorneys, maintain the integrity and competence of the legal profession, and save the judicial process from corruption. See District of Columbia Bar v. Kleindienst, 345 A.2d 146, 147 (D.C. 1975) (en banc) (per curiam). We are reminded that the disciplinary rules, in contrast to the primarily aspirational ethical considerations also set forth in the rules of professional responsibility, are mandatory in character: "The Disciplinary Rules state the minimum level of conduct below which no lawyer can fall without being subject to disciplinary action. Within the framework of fair trial, the Disciplinary Rules should be uniformly applied to all lawyers, regardless of the nature of their professional activities." D.C.Bar R. Appendix A, Preliminary Statement (emphasis added).

In dismissing the charges of misconduct against respondent, the Board formulated a policy which borrows from the principles that infuse the Sixth Amendment right of criminal defendants to a speedy trial. See Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972); Branch v. United States, 372 A.2d 998 (D.C.1977). The Board's reasoning was supported, to some extent, by our previous description of disciplinary proceedings as "quasi-criminal in nature." Williams I, supra, 464 A.2d at 118. The accusatorial quality of attorney discipline proceedings, coupled with their grave consequences, demand the provision of due process safeguards. In re Ruffalo, 390 U.S. 544, 550, 88 S.Ct. 1222, 1225, 20 L.Ed.2d 117 (1968); Williams I, supra, 464 A.2d at 118-19; In re Thorup, supra, 432 A.2d at 1225. But it does not follow from this that an attorney charged with misconduct must receive every protection to which a criminal defendant would be entitled. Ex parte Wall, 107 U.S. 265, 288, 2 S.Ct. 569, 588, 27 L.Ed. 552 (1883); Office of the Disciplinary Counsel v. Campbell, 345 A.2d 616, 620-21 (Pa.1975); see also In re Echeles, 430 F.2d 347, 349-50 (7th Cir. 1970). While we do not discount the weight of the Board's argument to the contrary, we nonetheless regard as inappropriate its dismissal of disciplinary charges solely on account of a speedy trial violation.

A disciplinary sanction differs from a criminal conviction. Although both protect the public, they do so in different ways. Most importantly, an attorney is in a continuing position of trust toward clients, the courts, and society in general. A member of the bar has accepted the onerous responsibility of participating in the administration of justice. We grant the license to practice law as a privilege, not as a right, and we do so only on the strict condition that the attorney aspire to the highest standards of ethical conduct. Consequently, "[t]he purpose of a disciplinary proceeding is to question the continued fitness of a lawyer to...