In re Berhan Dargie

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
No. 17-BG-1075
IN RE BERHAN DARGIE, RESPONDENT. 11/09/2017
A Member of the Bar
of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
(Bar Registration No. 455288)
On Report and Recommendation of the Board on Professional
Responsibility Ad Hoc Hearing Committee
Approving Petition for Negotiated Discipline
(BDN 009-17)
(Decided: November 9, 2017)
Before BECKWITH and EASTERLY, Associate Judges, and NEBEKER, Senior
Judge.
PER CURIAM: This decision is non-precedential. Please refer to D.C. Bar R.
XI, § 12.1 (d) governing the appropriate citation of this opinion.
In this disciplinary matter, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board
on Professional Responsibility Ad Hoc Hearing Committee (the Committee)
recommends approval of a revised petition for negotiated attorney discipline. The
violations stem from respondent Berhan Dargie’s professional misconduct,
wherein he knowingly made a false statement to a third party about the amount of a
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settlement agreement and the statement prompted the third party to take a lesser fee
for services it provided to his client.
Respondent acknowledged that he (1) knowingly made a false statement of
material fact to a third person and (2) engaged in conduct involving dishonesty,
fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation, thereby violating Rules 4.1 (a) and 8.4 (c) of
the District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct. The Committee
considered the following circumstances in mitigation: (1) respondent’s cooperation
with Disciplinary Counsel; (2) that respondent took full responsibility and
demonstrated remorse for his actions; (3) respondent’s efforts to remedy the
dishonest representation; and (4) respondent’s pro bono work and other charitable
and community services. As a result, Disciplinary Counsel and respondent
negotiated the imposition of discipline in the form of a sixty-day suspension. After
reviewing the revised petition for negotiated discipline, considering a supporting
affidavit and the attachment thereto, and conducting a limited hearing, the
Committee concluded that the revised petition for negotiated discipline should be
approved.
We accept the Committee’s recommendation because the Committee
properly applied D.C. Bar R. XI § 12.1 (c), and we find no error in the
Committee’s determination. Based upon the record before the court, the negotiated
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discipline of a sixty-day suspension from the practice of law is not unduly lenient
considering the existence of mitigating factors and the discipline imposed by this
court for similar actions.1
In accordance with our procedures in uncontested disciplinary cases, we
agree that this case is appropriate for negotiated discipline, and we accept the
Committee’s recommendation. Accordingly, it is
ORDERED that Berham Dargie is hereby suspended from the practice of
law in the District of Columbia for sixty days. We direct respondent’s attention to
the requirements of D.C. Bar R. XI, § 14 (g) and its effect on his eligibility for
reinstatement. See D.C. Bar R. XI, § 16 (c).
So ordered.
1
See In re Rosenau, 132 A.3d 1174 (D.C. 2016) (upholding a thirty-day
suspension in failing to disclose the death of his client during mediation); In re
Amberly, 974 A.2d 270 (D.C. 2009) (imposing a thirty-day suspension for an
attorney who knowingly made false statements about the service of a
counterclaim); In re Mitchell, 822 A.2d 1106 (D.C. 2003) (suspending an attorney
for ninety days after the attorney repeatedly made false statements to a third party
about both the receipt of funds in which the third party had an interest and the
satisfaction of the debt to the third party and then failed to pay the third party after
receiving notice of Disciplinary Counsel’s action against him); In re Zeiger, 692
A.2d 1351 (D.C. 1997) (involving a sixty-day suspension for an attorney, with a
number of mitigating factors, that altered his client’s medical records and
submitted them to the opposing party’s insurer).