In Re Chira ( 1986 )

REYNOSO, J.

I respectfully dissent. The majority, in my view, err by not following the State Bar recommendation of actual suspension of 30 days as a condition of probation. Probation was set at three years. Indeed, the State Bar, perhaps influenced by the hearing panel’s conclusion that no actual suspension was warranted, may have been too lenient.

Petitioner’s transgressions, his participation in a clearly illegal scheme to shelter income, is egregious in the extreme—it is contrary to public policy (as would be the acts of a common burglar) and damaging to the confidence the public must have in the legal profession (the quintessence of a “shyster”). By his actions he has taken resources from the rightful owners (the people of this country) as surely as a mugger—yet the mugger or burglar goes to prison for years, while this petitioner continues to practice that honored profession which, since medieval days, has been considered one of three noble professions (the law, medicine, and the ministry). That the misdeed is a “white collar” crime is not a mitigating factor.

But do actual mitigating factors appear in the record? No! First, did the backdating of a document by this attorney arise from naivete? The transaction included petitioner’s own Rolls Royce (Rolls Royce?) and, as the State Bar argues, was for petitioner’s private economic benefit as well as a tax shelter for the third party. Second, does “embarrassment” mitigate the seriousness of the offense? White collar crime, in my view, is no more mitigated by “embarrassment” than would be the “street crime” of a burglar or mugger. Petitioner has embarrassed not just himself but the profession to which we all belong. His knowledge and position placed on him a high responsibility which he failed. That failure should bring discipline, for the protection of the public, appropriate to its seriousness.

I would accept the recommendation of the State Bar.

Bird, C. J., concurred.