Reintatement Denied To Attorney Who Represented Law Student At Hearing While High On Drugs

The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board affirmed a hearing panel order denying the second reinstatement petition of an attorney suspended for two years in March 2005. The suspension order was entered five years ago today. Among the violations (related to the attorney’s cocaine addiction) was his “representation of a law student in a school disciplinary hearing while under the influence of drugs.”

The board rejected the proposition that the passage of the specified time imposed by suspension (if it requires a petition for reinstatement) establishes a prima facie case for reinstatement: “This is not the law…” There was proper evidentiary support for the hearing panel’s adverse conclusions and the petitioner has a heavy burden in establishing that his reinstatement is in the public interest. (Mike Frisch)