In re Gordon ( 2024 )

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
No. 24-BG-0652
IN RE ALISHA E. GORDON, RESPONDENT.
A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
(Bar Registration No. 1010943)
On Report and Recommendation of the Board on Professional
Responsibility Hearing Committee Number Four
Approving Amended Petition for Negotiated Discipline
(BDN: 24-ND-003; DDN: 2022-D091)
(Decided August 15, 2024)
Before BECKWITH and MCLEESE, Associate Judges, and RUIZ, Senior Judge.
PER CURIAM: This decision is nonprecedential. Please refer to D.C. Bar R.
XI, § 12.1(d) regarding the appropriate citation of this opinion.
In this disciplinary matter, the Hearing Committee recommends approval of
an amended petition for negotiated attorney discipline. See D.C. Bar R. XI,
§ 12.1(c). Respondent Alisha E. Gordon voluntarily acknowledged that, in
connection with securing a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) on behalf of a
client, she (1) misrepresented to the court that she had notified the opposing parties
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of the TRO hearing and (2) failed to subsequently correct the misrepresentation at
opposing counsel’s request. As a result, respondent admits that she knowingly made
a false statement of fact to a tribunal and failed to correct it in violation of D.C. R.
Pro. Conduct 3.3(a). Respondent further admits that she thereby also engaged in
conduct involving dishonesty or misrepresentation that seriously interfered with the
administration of justice in violation of D.C. R. Pro. Conduct 8.4(c)-(d). The
proposed discipline consists of a public censure and six hours of continuing legal
education courses preapproved by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Having reviewed the Committee’s recommendation in accordance with our
procedures in uncontested disciplinary cases, see D.C. Bar R. XI, § 12.1(d), we agree
that this case is appropriate for negotiated discipline and that “the agreed-upon
sanction is ‘justified,’” In re Mensah, 262 A.3d 1100, 1104 (D.C. 2021) (per curiam)
(quoting D.C. Bar R. XI, § 12.1(c)(3)), in light of reasonably analogous precedents.
See In re Benjamin, 698 A.2d 434, 441 (D.C. 1997) (explaining that a public censure
“is within the range of sanctions that might be imposed in a non-reciprocal case” for
misrepresentations to a court); cf. In re Rohde, 234 A.3d 1203 (D.C. 2020) (per
curiam) (public censure for misrepresentations to a court). Accordingly, it is
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ORDERED that respondent Alisha E. Gordon is publicly censured and
required to complete six hours of continuing legal education preapproved by the
Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
So ordered.