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Attorney Grievance Commission v. Zuckerman4/13/2005
tified Bar Counsel immediately and fully cooperated during the investigation by providing full disclosure of his bank statements and records pertaining to his trust account. Moreover, there is no evidence that Mr. Zuckerman acted with an intent to steal money, nor did he benefit personally from the misappropriation of the funds. When he became aware of Ms. Becker's theft, Mr. Zuckerman closed the then existing trust account and transferred the remaining funds to a new account. He also repaid the stolen monies, and none of his clients suffered any financial loss as a result of the theft. In addition, the hearing judge found that Mr. Zuckerman had significant stresses during the time when the theft occurred, namely that he had been recently divorced, his former wife had died leaving him with the sole responsibility of caring for his pre-teen son, and that he had been suffering from injuries due to a car accident. Mr. Zuckerman also voluntarily participated in psychological counseling and had implemented a computerized accounting system to maintain his trust account to Bar Counsel's satisfaction.
These mitigating factors lead us to believe that an appropriate sanction would be an indefinite suspension with the right to reapply after thirty days. See Seiden, 373 Md. at 425, 818 A.2d at 1117; Culver, 371 Md. 265 at 284, 808 A.2d at 1262.
IT IS SO ORDERED; RESPONDENT SHALL PAY ALL COSTS AS TAXED BY THE CLERK OF THIS COURT, INCLUDING COSTS OF ALL TRANSCRIPTS, PURSUANT TO MARYLAND RULE 16-715(C), FOR WHICH SUM JUDGMENT IS ENTERED IN FAVOR OF THE ATTORNEY GRIEVANCE COMMISSION.
Dissenting Opinion by Harrell, J.
I dissent because I do not believe the sanction imposed in the Majority opinion is commensurate with our treatment of past cases involving misconduct most analogous to that present in this case. In short, the Majority's minimum "sit-out time" for the Respondent is too short in duration.
As a foundational point of reference, it bears repeating that " he purpose of these proceedings is not to punish the lawyer, but any sanction imposed should deter other lawyers from engaging in similar misconduct." Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Stolarz, 379 Md. 387, 402, 842 A.2d 42, 50 (2004) (citing Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Mooney, 359 Md. 56, 96, 753 A.2d 17, 38 (2000)). We protect the public by preventing future attorney misconduct only when the sanctions imposed "are commensurate with the nature and gravity of the violations and the intent with which they were committed." Id. (citing Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Awuah, 346 Md. 420, 435, 697 A.2d 446, 454 (1997)).
The determination of what sanction is commensurate is made often (but not exclusively) by contrasting and comparing the case at hand with prior cases of varying degrees of similarity. My review of more recent attorney grievance cases sharing similar characteristics to the present one indicates that a more stringent sanction is more appropriate than is imposed by the Majority opinion, both to deter generally other lawyers from similar misconduct and to deter specifically an individual lawyer from future transgressions. Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. DiCicco, 369 Md. 662, 686, 802 A.2d 1014, 1027 (2002) (quoting Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Garfield, 369 Md. 85, 98, 797 A.2d 757, 764 (2002) (citations omitted)).
In Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Sperling, 380 Md. 180, 844 A.2d 397 (2004), we ordered an indefinite suspension with a right to re-apply no sooner than ninety days. In Sperling, a $42,415.91 shortfall in the attorney's trust account was discovered. We held that Sperling violated Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC) 1.15 (Safeguarding property) and 8.4 (a) (Misconduct),
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