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State ex rel Oklahoma Bar Association v.6/10/2003
public. When a mental disorder is tendered as a mitigation factor for the assessment of a lawyer's culpability, there must be a causal relationship between the medical condition and the professional misconduct. Not only did respondent fail to provide medical substantiation that he suffers from depression, but he also failed to establish a causal link between this perceived mental condition and the misconduct for which additional discipline is sought. The court can and must protect the public from a lawyer who suffers from undefined psychological problems that call into serious question his continued fitness to practice law. Respondent's misconduct justifies disbarrment in this case, but we decline to impose the ultimate disciplinary measure where, as here, respondent's misconduct has not caused any injury to a client, to the public, or to the legal profession beyond that which naturally flows from his defiance of the court's order. Instead, we suspend respondent for two years and one day so that he will not be able to resume the practice of law without first demonstrating his fitness to act as a lawyer. At the expiration of the suspension pronounced today, respondent will remain suspended until he has met all outstanding obligations to the Bar and the court regarding Bar dues, CLE, and the payment of court-ordered costs. Respondent has not seen fit to seek the help and support he needs to overcome his problems despite the court's clear direction in Giger I to get such help. It is our fervent hope that a suspension from which he cannot return to the practice of law without pursuing the readmission procedures for disbarred lawyers will convince him to do so.
The Bar submitted an application to assess against respondent the costs of this proceeding in the sum of $2,010.06. Respondent has not challenged the Bar's application. Upon examination of the itemized costs and the copies of bills submitted by the Bar, we order respondent to pay the costs of this proceeding in the amount of $1,580.42 within ninety (90) days of the date this opinion becomes final.
RESPONDENT IS SUSPENDED FROM THE PRACTICE OF LAW FOR TWO YEARS AND ONE DAY IN SCBD No. 4529 AND IS DIRECTED TO PAY THE COSTS OF THAT PROCEEDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,580.42, WHICH SHALL BE DUE NOT LATER THAN NINETY (90) DAYS AFTER THIS OPINION BECOMES FINAL; RESPONDENT STANDS EXONERATED OF PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT IN SCBD No. 4734. WATT, C.J., OPALA, V.C.J., and HODGES, LAVENDER, KAUGER, BOUDREAU and WINCHESTER, JJ., concur;
HARGRAVE, J., concurs in result;
SUMMERS, J., concurs in part and dissents in part.
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