Short Suspension Required “To Deter Others”
A recent report and recommendation from the Illinois Review Board
The Administrator charged Respondent with misconduct arising out of her representation, in a criminal case, of a man with whom she had a decades-long close personal relationship.
The Hearing Board found that Respondent had committed some but not all of the charged misconduct. It found that she made false statements to a court by misrepresenting her client’s monthly income in connection with bond proceedings, in violation of Rules 3.3(a)(1) and 8.4(c); and communicated with and gave legal advice to an unrepresented person whose interests were potentially adverse to those of her client, in violation of Rule 4.3. It recommended that she be reprimanded for her conduct.
The Administrator appealed, challenging the Hearing Board’s sanction recommendation and asking that she be suspended for 90 days.
The Review Board recommended that Respondent be suspended for 30 days for her misconduct. It recognized the unique circumstances involved in the matter, which, like the Hearing Board, it found mitigating. However, it determined that Respondent’s actions in making false statements to a court on three separate occasions warranted more than a reprimand. It found that a 30-day suspension would recognize the seriousness of Respondent’s misconduct but would not be so harsh as to constitute punishment.
The client was charged with telephone harassment for allegedly making threats against three individuals
The charges against Respondent arose out of her representation of Danny French, with whom Respondent had a close personal relationship. Respondent began dating French in 1993, when she was 17 years old. They lived together from 2002 until French’s death in 2017.
Sanction
The misconduct in the present matter is similar to the misconduct in the cases cited by the Hearing Board, as well as the additional authority noted above, in that the false statements occurred during the course of a single representation and over a short period of time; did not extend, delay, or cause additional judicial proceedings; and did not involve false statements to the ARDC. As in most of those cases, Respondent’s conduct was not self-serving.
And while the mitigation in those cases is arguably stronger than that in this matter, the Hearing Board clearly was struck by the unique circumstances of this matter, and considered those circumstances to be strongly mitigating and indicative of the fact that Respondent is not likely to commit misconduct in the future.
We, too, are struck by the unique circumstances in this matter, and are convinced that Respondent will not engage in misconduct again and poses no risk whatsoever to clients. However, we believe that her actions in making false statements to a court warrant more than reprimand, regardless of her reasons for making them and irrespective of the fact that her false statements did not appear to affect the court’s decisions. We simply cannot countenance an attorney being anything less than entirely honest and forthcoming with a tribunal, no matter the reason for or context of the lack of candor.
We believe that a short suspension would recognize the seriousness of Respondent’s misconduct, which included deliberately misrepresenting material facts to the court on three occasions, including once in a brief, on the subject of her arguments before the court, but would not be so harsh as to constitute punishment.
Accordingly, we recommend that Respondent be suspended for 30 days for deliberately making false statements to a court on three occasions. We find that this sanction is commensurate with Respondent’s misconduct, consistent with discipline that has been imposed for comparable misconduct, and necessary to serve the goals of attorney discipline and deter others from committing similar misconduct.
(Mike Frisch)