In re Dedman

Opinion

THE COURT. This is a proceeding to review a recommendation of the Disciplinary Board of the State Bar that petitioner be suspended from the practice of law for five years on conditions of probation which include actual suspension for three years.

Petitioner was admitted to practice in California on December 23, 1966, and in September of 1968, he was a sole practitioner. He has no prior record of discipline.

Petitioner was convicted in 1973, following a negotiated plea of nolo contendere on one count of theft (Pen. Code, § 484), one count of grand theft (Pen. Code, § 487), and one count of falsifying documents to be used in evidence (Pen. Code, § 134), crimes involving moral turpitude. On October 31, 1973, we placed him under interim suspension; we denied a petition he filed the following 'month to set aside our order. In January 1974, we referred the matter to the State Bar on the issue of discipline.

Although petitioner’s plea of nolo contendere to two counts of theft and one count of preparing false evidence constitutes “conclusive evidence of guilt” (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6101), the facts and circumstances are relevant, not on the issue of moral turpitude, but to determine the appropriate discipline to be imposed. (In re Wright (1973) [23210] Cal.3d 374, 376 [110 Cal.Rptr. 348, 515 P.2d 292]; In re Smith (1967) 67 Cal.2d 460, 462-463 [62 Cal.Rptr. 615, 432 P.2d 231].)

Following an evidentiary hearing, the local administrative committee of the State Bar, consisting of one member, adopted findings and recommended that petitioner be disbarred from the practice of law in this state.

Upon review .before the disciplinary board, the examining officer for the State Bar withdrew his original request for disbarment submitted to the local administrative committee and requested that the board grant immediate reinstatement, subject to petitioner’s successful completion of a five-year probationary period.

The board also received evidence from petitioner’s psychiatrist who characterized petitioner’s conduct as “sloppy financial practices” that will not be repeated. He described petitioner as a painfully conscientious man who will not repeat the error of his ways. The clinical psychologist who examined petitioner wrote that petitioner suffers from genuine feelings of guilt and remorse, and accepts his own responsibility in the matter; he opines that the possibility of recurrence of any kind of illegal or unethical conduct is so remote as to be essentially nonexistent.