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In re Brooks10/24/2005
Heard September 22, 2005
INDEFINITE SUSPENSION
In this attorney disciplinary matter, a Panel of the Commission on Lawyer Conduct (the Panel) found that Walter W. Brooks (Respondent) violated Rules 7(a)(1), 7(a)(3), 7(a)(4), 7(a)(5), and 7(a)(7) of the Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement, Rule 413, SCACR, as well as Rule 8.4 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 407, SCACR. The Panel recommended that Respondent receive an indefinite suspension from the practice of law, retroactive to the date of his 1996 definite suspension, and that Respondent pay the costs of this action. We agree.
Factual/Procedural Background
In 1980, Respondent was disbarred from the practice of law for failing to obey a police order in violation of the "blue light law," for causing an affidavit to be prepared which misrepresented the incident, for having knowledge that this affidavit was fraudulently notarized, and for financing a drug deal for a client. In re Brooks, 274 S.C. 601, 604-607, 267 S.E.2d 74, 75-77 (1980). Respondent was reinstated to the practice of law in 1989. In re Brooks,298 S.C. 13, 13, 377 S.E.2d 827, 827 (1989). According to court records, Respondent was the first attorney in South Carolina to be reinstated following disbarrment.
In October of 1996, Respondent was suspended from the practice of law for nine months. In re Brooks, 324 S.C. 105, 107, 477 S.E.2d 98, 99 (1996). Respondent was suspended for making threatening and harassing phone calls to a client's husband, making lewd comments to a client while inebriated in his [Respondent's] office, and serving a deposition notice on a party known to be represented by counsel when there was no discovery order. Id.
In addition, the Court ordered Respondent to submit to monthly substance abuse testing during the first year following his suspension. Id. at 108, 477 S.E.2d at 99. Following the first year, Respondent was to submit to testing every six months for two years. Id. After every test, the results were to be reported to the Court. Id. Respondent filed a petition for reinstatement from this suspension in January of 2002.
Later that same month, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) notified the Court of a new disciplinary matter involving Respondent. ODC alleged that Respondent failed to comply with the terms of his definite suspension and had committed misconduct by (1) failing to submit reports of substance abuse testing to the Court as required and (2) pleading guilty to a string of alcohol related offenses occurring between October 1998 and May 1999. In particular, Respondent pled guilty to:
a. Three (3) counts of driving under the influence , fourth offense and above, in violation of S.C. Code Ann. §§ 56-5-2930, 56-5-2940 (1991); b. Two (2) counts of driving under suspension, in violation of S.C. Code Ann. § 56-1-460 (1991); c. One (1) count of violation of the Habitual Traffic Offender Law, S.C. Code Ann. §§ 56-1-1020, 56-1-1100 (Supp. 2004); and d. One (1) count of leaving the scene of an accident, in violation of S.C. Code Ann. § 56-5-1220 (1991).
The Panel found that Respondent violated Rule 8.4 of the Rules of Professional Conduct (criminal act reflecting adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects) and the following Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement: Rule 7(a)(1) (violating the Rules of Professional Conduct); Rule 7(a)(3) (willfully violating a valid order of the Supreme Court); Rule 7(a)(4) (conviction of a crime of moral turpitude or a serious crime); Rule 7(a)(5) (engaging in conduct tending to pollute the administration of justice or to bring the courts or legal
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