Mayer v. State Bar

CURTIS, J.

This is a proceeding instituted for the purpose of reviewing the action of the board of governors of The State Bar of California in recommending the. disbarment of petitioner as an attorney at law of this state. The local administrative committee before whom the charges against petitioner were originally heard made its findings that the petitioner had violated section 29 of the State Bar Act by wilfully breaching rule 2 of the Rules of Professional Conduct; that petitioner had committed acts involving moral turpitude, as defined by section 287, subdivision 5, of the Code of Civil Procedure in the course of his activities as an attorney at law,- and that petitioner had committed a misdemeanor in violating section 159a of the Penal Code of the state of California. The committee recommended his suspension from the practice of the law for one year. The board of governors adopted the findings of the local administrative committee, but made the recommendation to this court that petitioner be disbarred from the practice of the law.

■ Rule 2 of the Rules of Professional Conduct of The State Bar reads as follows: “A member of The State Bar shall not solicit professional employment by advertisement, or otherwise. This rule shall not apply to the publication or use of ordinary professional cards, or to conventional list

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ings in legal directories.” (204 Cal. xci.) Section 287 of the Code of Civil Procedure enumerates the causes for which an attorney may be removed, and subdivision 5 specifies, “For the commission of any act involving moral turpitude. ...” Section 159a of the Penal Code reads as follows: “Whoever advertises, prints, publishes, distributes, or circulates, or causes to be advertised, printed, published, distributed or circulated, any circular, pamphlet, card, handbill, advertisement, printed paper, book, newspaper, or notice of any kind, offering to procure or obtain, or to aid in procuring or obtaining any divorce, or the severance, dissolution, or annulment of any marriage, or offering to engage or appear or act as an attorney, counsel, or referee in any suit for alimony or divorce, or the severance, dissolution, or annulment of any marriage, either in this state or elsewhere, is guilty of a misdemeanor. ...”

When this proceeding was first before us for consideration we were of the opinion that the findings of the local administrative committee were supported by the evidence presented in the record, but in the hopes that the petitioner might be made to realize the seriousness of his offense through the imposition of a lesser penalty than that recommended by the board of bar governors, we made our order that petitioner be suspended for one year beginning on the thirtieth day from and after the filing of the order. Said order was filed October 23, 1933.