In Re Chira

This is a proceeding to review the recommendation of the State Bar Court that petitioner Richard Chira be suspended from the practice of law for one year, that the order of suspension be stayed, and that he be placed on probation for three years on specified conditions including thirty days’ actual suspension.

Petitioner, who has been a lawyer for 24 years, was admitted to practice in California in 1975. On August 10, 1981, he was convicted of conspiracy to impede the lawful function of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in violation of 18 United States Code section 371 . He was sentenced to one year probation. The conviction was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, in November 1982. (United States v. Everett (9th Cir. 1982) 692 F.2d 596 .) We referred the matter to the State Bar for a hearing and report on whether the facts and circumstances surrounding the commission of the offense involved moral turpitude or other misconduct warranting discipline, and if so, for a recommendation as to discipline.

The hearing panel held hearings on four separate days. Petitioner presented a number of witnesses who attested to his honesty and integrity. Some,…

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.

*910 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…

THE COURT.

This is a proceeding to review the recommendation of the State Bar Court that petitioner Richard Chira be suspended from the practice of law for one year, that the order of suspension be stayed, and that he be placed on probation for three years on specified conditions including thirty days' actual suspension.

Petitioner, who has been a lawyer for 24 years, was admitted to practice in California in 1975. On August 10, 1981, he was convicted of conspiracy to impede the lawful function of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in violation of 18 United States Code section 371 . He was sentenced to one year probation. The conviction was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, in November 1982. ( United States v. Everett (9th Cir.1982) 692 F.2d 596 .) We referred the matter to the State Bar for a hearing and report on whether the facts and circumstances surrounding the commission of the offense involved moral turpitude or other misconduct warranting discipline, and if so, for a recommendation as to discipline.

The hearing panel held hearings on four separate days. Petitioner presented a number of witnesses who attested to his honesty and…