Florida Board of Bar Examiners re L.H.H.

660 So. 2d 1046, 20 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 506, 1995 Fla. LEXIS 1559, 1995 WL 568714
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedSeptember 28, 1995
DocketNo. 85217
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 660 So. 2d 1046 (Florida Board of Bar Examiners re L.H.H.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Florida Board of Bar Examiners re L.H.H., 660 So. 2d 1046, 20 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 506, 1995 Fla. LEXIS 1559, 1995 WL 568714 (Fla. 1995).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

L.H.H. petitions this Court for review of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners’ recommendation that he not be admitted to The Florida Bar. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 15 of the Florida Constitution.

We deny L.H.H.’s petition because we find that he has not shown rehabilitation sufficient to warrant Ms admission. See Fla.Bar.Admiss.R., art. Ill, § 4.e. (requiring clear and convincmg evidence of rehabilitation for applicants such as L.H.H.).

L.H.H. was admitted to the Alabama Bar m 1967 and to The Florida Bar in 1968. He was permanently disbarred from The Florida Bar in 1984 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to traffic in stolen jewelry and two counts of grand theft. He also resigned from the Alabama Bar.

In 1992, tMs Court allowed L.H.H. to seek readmission to The Florida Bar. He filed applications for admission and has passed the Florida bar and Multistate Professional Responsibility examinations.

Because of L.H.H.’s disbarment and information he provided on Ms Bar application, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners held an investigative hearing in 1993. Based on that hearing, the Board prepared specifications and held a formal hearing in October 1994. The Board found six of the seven specifications proven and recommended that L.H.H. be demed admission to The Florida Bar.

The first proven specification concerns the crimes to wMch L.H.H. pleaded guilty. L.H.H. accepted a ring as security for his fee in a criminal appeal, even though his client told him the ring was stolen. The client repeatedly asked L.H.H. if he knew anyone who wanted to buy stolen jewelry from him. Eventually, L.H.H. bought a one-carat diamond from the client. After L.H.H.’s arrest and guilty plea, the trial court withheld adjudication of guilt for one count of conspiracy to traffic in stolen jewelry and two counts of grand theft. The court sentenced L.H.H. to five years’ probation. The judge terminated probation after 2½ years.

The second proven specification concerns L.H.H.’s disbarment in Florida because of his arrest and for statements made during the events that led to Ms arrest and conviction. These statements included “puffing” and claims of outrageous coaching of witnesses. This Court demed L.H.H.’s petition for leave to seek readmission to the Bar in 1991, but granted the petition m 1992. L.H.H. also surrendered Ms license to practice law in Alabama, and that bar demed Ms petition for reinstatement in 1990. The Alabama order provides that if L.H.H. is reinstated m Florida, he will automatically be reinstated in Alabama.

The third proven specification concerns L.H.H.’s disciplinary Mstory in Florida. He received a private reprimand in 1979 after he refused to stop work on a case, as the client requested, until he received $142.50 in additional attorney’s fees owed. L.H.H. was publicly reprimanded for refusmg to refund $2134 in unearned attorney’s fees. He also was publicly reprimanded for improperly receipting a client’s property or money into his trust account.

The fourth proven specification concerns L.H.H.’s failure to note on Ms 1992 application for admission to The Florida Bar that he had petitioned for and been demed reinstatement to the Alabama Bar.1 In Ms sworn answer to the specifications, L.H.H. admitted the factual allegations, but demed that Ms response was knowingly false, lacking in candor, or designed to mislead the Board. He [1048]*1048claimed that his petition for reinstatement was not an “application” as contemplated by the question on his Florida Bar application. He also argued that the Board would have access to his Alabama bar file because he had told the Board about his admission and resignation there. The Board determined that L.H.H. should have revealed his petition for reinstatement and found it “unreasonable” that someone of L.H.H.’s age and legal experience “could in good faith make the semantical argument concerning the term ‘application’ or merely assume that the Board would have his ‘entire’ Alabama file.”

The fifth proven specification concerns L.H.H.’s arrest in 1986 for DUI and his participation in an alcohol recovery program beginning in 1994. L.H.H. pleaded nolo con-tendere to DUI, was adjudicated guilty, and placed on six months’ probation. In his answer to specifications, L.H.H. said he had been sober since January 1, 1994, but testified at his formal hearing that he had been sober only since April 1994 — after he was evaluated for alcohol dependence at the Board’s request. Although L.H.H. has participated in a recovery program, the Board found that the period of involvement was insufficient and that L.H.H.’s motive for participating was questionable.

The sixth proven specification concerns L.H.H.’s intent to mislead authorities about his 1984 convictions when he applied for a real estate broker’s license in Alabama in 1987.

The Board found that the second proven specification was individually disqualifying and that the other proven specifications were collectively disqualifying.

L.H.H. argues that the Board has erected a permanent barrier to his readmission by finding that his disbarment alone is disqualifying. Article III, section 2.c. of the Rules Relating to Admission to The Florida Bar requires the Board to evaluate factors — including age, recency of conduct, evidence of rehabilitation, candor in the admissions process — to determine whether an applicant has the character and fitness required to return to the practice of law. The Board found that L.H.H. was more than forty years old when most of the proven specifications occurred and had been a Florida Bar member for at least ten years. The proven misconduct occurred within the last fifteen years, with lack of candor on the application occurring as recently as 1992.

An applicant such as L.H.H. bears the heavy burden of establishing rehabilitation. Florida Bd. of Bar Examiners re J.C.B., 655 So.2d 79 (Fla.1995). Thus, L.H.H.’s disbarment alone is disqualifying unless he can show clear and convincing evidence of rehabilitation.2 L.H.H. argues that the Board overlooked such evidence.

The focus at the formal hearing was rehabilitation and whether L.H.H. had demonstrated fitness for membership in The Florida Bar. L.H.H. presented depositions of three character witnesses and live testimony of four character witnesses who knew L.H.H. either socially, professionally, or through alcohol recovery programs. All recommended L.H.H.’s readmission.

L.H.H. testified that he has shown rehabilitation through work in hunting and gun safety and in environmental conservation. The Board discounted this testimony, however, because L.H.H. did not offer independent testimony, documentation, or corroboration to verify his claims or to explain the extent of his work.

L.H.H. argues that his ease is analogous to Florida Board of Bar Examiners re L.M.S., 647 So.2d 838 (Fla.1994), where this Court ordered the admission of an applicant — once she passed both parts of the bar exam — who [1049]*1049sat for the bar exam before she had completed her graduation requirements. In L.M.S., the Court found this to be an isolated event and “in light of L.M.S.’s overall record, it is not clear what further rehabilitation she could show.” Id. at 839.

We find L.ELH.’s case distinguishable. The specifications show not an isolated incident, but several instances of misconduct during his membership in The Florida Bar.

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660 So. 2d 1046, 20 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 506, 1995 Fla. LEXIS 1559, 1995 WL 568714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florida-board-of-bar-examiners-re-lhh-fla-1995.