With a hint of regret, the full Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied reinstatement to a petitioner suspended in 2011

As the single justice observed, this is not an easy case. The petitioner, who was suspended for one year and one day, has not practiced law since May, 2011. As the hearing committee recognized, he has a sincere desire to return to practice. The focus of reinstatement proceedings, however, is on the “integrity and standing of the bar, the administration of justice, [and] the public interest,” S.J.C. Rule 4:01, § 18 (5), rather than on a petitioner’s private interests. See Matter of Fletcher, 466 Mass. at 1020. Neither the hearing committee, nor the board, nor the single justice was satisfied that those interests would adequately be protected if the petitioner were reinstated, on this record, at this time.