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In re Drakulich12/19/1995
By the Court, Springer, J.: This is an automatic appeal from findings and recommendations of a hearing panel of the Northern Nevada Disciplinary Board of the State Bar of
[111 Nev. 1556, Page 1557]
Nevada. The panel found that, on numerous occasions, appellant, attorney Victor G. Drakulich, shared with an individual named Harold Hall a portion of the attorney's fees appellant earned for representing clients who had been referred to appellant by Hall. The panel further found that appellant's actions violated a number of the Nevada Rules of Professional Conduct. Based upon these findings, the panel recommends that this court suspend appellant from the practice of law in this state for a period of ninety days and assess the costs of the disciplinary proceedings against appellant. For the reasons which follow, however, we conclude that clear and convincing evidence does not support the panel's findings. Accordingly, we reject the panel's findings and recommendation.
THE FACTS
On April 9, 1990, Bar Counsel for the State Bar of Nevada filed with the Northern Nevada Disciplinary Board a four-count disciplinary complaint against appellant. 1 Following two days of hearings, a disciplinary hearing panel returned findings of misconduct on only one of the four counts. Specifically, the panel found that appellant had committed the misconduct charged in Count IV, which alleged:
During 1988, [appellant] paid referral fees to Harold Hall, a non-lawyer then employed at the Reno Orthopedic Clinic for referring clients with potential personal injury claims to [appellant's] law office. [Appellant's] actions were in violation of Supreme Court Rules (SCR) 187, 188.1, 196.3, 197 and 203.1.
Bar counsel's case against appellant consisted primarily of the testimony of two of appellant's former legal secretaries, Muriel Skelly and Jan Marie Stellmach, and of various items of documentary evidence. The pertinent evidence adduced at the hearing is detailed below.
Muriel Skelly's Testimony
Muriel Skelly testified that, prior to becoming a licensed Nevada attorney in 1987, she worked for appellant as a legal secretary and legal assistant for two and one-half years beginning in April 1985. She maintained appellant's files and financial ledgers. She also wrote and signed checks. Skelly told the panel that Harold Hall would telephone appellant's
[111 Nev. 1556, Page 1558]
office approximately once a week and would "give names of clients that he had told to get in touch with us." When she conveyed Hall's messages to appellant, appellant made no comments. Bar counsel asked Skelly if she had ever heard appellant state that Hall was compensated for referring clients to appellant. Skelly answered: "No." Bar counsel also asked Skelly if Hall ever performed any investigative services, or asset checks with regard to appellant's clients and cases. Skelly answered: "Not to my knowledge." Skelly stated that she never saw Hall submit any bills to appellant's office, and that she had received instructions from appellant that "Al over at Business and Professional Collection Service would do any credit checks or asset checks that we needed because he was a client of ours."
Jan Marie Stellmach's Testimony
Stellmach testified that she worked for appellant as a legal secretary from 1987 until January 1989. She stated that she left appellant's employ because "someone told me . . . that he was being investigated by the Bar Association." She further stated, however, that she did not "have a grudge against Mr. Drakulich." In addition to clerical duties at appellant's office, Stellmach testified that she wa
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