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In re Reinstatement of Hanlon12/7/1993
Thomas G. Hanlon has petitioned for reinstatement following his disbarment in 1983. Petitioner was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association in June, 1953. On February 17, 1982, petitioner was suspended from the practice of law, and on the 12th day of September, 1983, was disbarred and stricken from the roll of attorneys as a result of a conviction in the United States District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division, Cause No. CR 81-37A, for violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1); 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 1952(a)(3) for the offenses of possession and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance, aiding and abetting and interstate travel to carry on illegal activity. Petitioner was formally sentenced to a five-year term. Credit was given for 179 days served and a probation period of four years was imposed by the Court. Petitioner was discharged from confinement on April 4, 1982, and in January, 1986, was discharged from his sentence by the U.S. District Court, Central Division, District of Utah.
Petitioner states that he is a recovered alcoholic and is maintaining active participation in the Alcoholics Anonymous program. Petitioner is sixty-eight years old, and states that he is possessed of good moral character, and has conducted himself in a proper manner during the time since his disbarment and continues to do so. He further states that he possesses the competency necessary for readmission to the practice of law. He states that no funds from the Oklahoma Bar Association Client Security Fund have been paid out as a result of his actions.
The evidence shows that petitioner was vice-president of Communications & Telephone Systems, Inc., in 1983 - 1984, until the corporation was dissolved due to physical problems encountered by the president of the corporation, and that from 1984 to the present, petitioner has not been employed.
Petitioner testified that he had been regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous since 1983. In 1989 petitioner was arrested twice within one week for DUI, and pled guilty. Petitioner committed himself to a rehabilitation clinic in Arkansas for thirty days. The General Counsel for the Oklahoma Bar Association, while acknowledging the Bar's general feeling in favor of reinstatement where rehabilitation has been had, did not recommend reinstatement in this case because petitioner had failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he has been rehabilitated, and because there is some question as to whether petitioner has maintained his competence in the law.
The matter was heard by two lawyer-members of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal; the presiding master recommended reinstatement be denied, the lawyer-member recommended that petitioner be reinstated with the stipulation that he be subject to the supervision of the Lawyers Helping Lawyers Committee of the Oklahoma Bar Association.
The review by this Court is de novo. State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Association v. Brewer, 794 P.2d 397 (Okla. 1989). Rule 11.5, Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, sets out the prerequisites for reinstatement. The requirements include findings of good moral character sufficient to entitle petitioner to be admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association, findings that petitioner has not engaged in any unauthorized practice of law during his disbarment, and findings that he possesses the competency and learning in the law required for admission. He must either take and pass the bar examination or show by clear and convincing evidence that he has continued to study and has kept himself informed as to current developments in the law sufficient to maintain his competency. A petitioner must establish affirmatively that if his suspen
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