THE FLORIDA BAR, COMPLAINANT,
v.
RICHARD C. DAVIS, RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court denied a lawyer's petition to resign from the bar pending disciplinary proceedings for misappropriation of trust funds, holding that allowing resignation would undermine public confidence in the judiciary and legal profession.
A lawyer may not resign from the bar to avoid disciplinary proceedings when doing so would adversely affect the purity of the courts and public confidence in the legal profession.
[1] An attorney may not resign from the bar to avoid disciplinary proceedings when the resignation would undermine public confidence in the judiciary and the legal profession…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRichard C. Davis, an attorney, was incarcerated in a penal institution and suspended from practicing law pending criminal, contempt, and disciplinary …
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Pursuant to Article 11, Rule 11.08 of the Integration Rule of The Florida Bar, 32 F.S.A., Respondent, Richard C. Davis, has filed with this Court a Petition for Leave to Resign.
Respondent contends he has been adequately disciplined since he has been incarcerated in a penal institution and has been suspended from the practice of law in Florida pending the outcome of criminal, contempt and disciplinary proceedings filed against him. He feels further hearings “can only have the effect of undermining confidence in the judiciary and the Bar and thus adversely affecting the administration of justice.”
In its Response to the Petition, The Florida Bar states:
“Because of the widespread notoriety of this case, its seriousness and the difficulties arising from it, The Florida Bar opposes the Petition to Resign as not being in the public interest nor in the best interest of the courts or the legal profession.”
After considering the Petition, the Response, and the numerous charges against Respondent alleging misappropriation of trust funds, we have concluded that the granting of this Petition would adversely affect the purity of the courts and would hinder the administration of justice and the confidence of the public in the legal profession.
Accordingly, the Petition for Leave to Resign is denied and The Florida Bar is instructed to proceed with the final hearing in Respondent’s disciplinary proceeding.
It is so ordered.
ERVIN, Acting C. J., and CARLTON, ADKINS, BOYD and McCAIN, JJ., concur.
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THE Florida BAR v. Davis, 272 So. 2d 485 (Fla. 1972)…, 1969, we suspended the respondent from the practice of law pending the outcome of criminal, contempt and disciplinary proceedings against him. In another related matter, we denied respondent’s request for permission to resign from The Florida Bar. 257 So. 2d 14 (Fla.1971). . Incidentally, the present published report of the order denying certiorari at 238 So. 2d 425, has an incorrect reference. The district court’s decision appears at 233 So. 2d 641, instead of 234 So. 2d 713. The latter citation refers t…