At best, handicapping our Supreme Court is an inexact science, but if several recent cases give any indication, I think the pendulum there is swinging in favor of attorneys in discipline matters.
Last December, in a case called Parnoff, the court clarified the level of intent needed to prove “knowing misappropriation” when an attorney takes a client’s money and triggers the automatic 12-year disbarment provisions of the Practice Book, adding an element of intent. I was a bit surprised by the result, as I had proposed using “willful and intentional” when I wrote the initial version of the rule. These terms were replaced by “knowing” in the final version, so I always figured that the idea had been to lower the level of intent needed to invoke the rule’s harsh provisions. Now willfulness and intentionality are read into it, raising disciplinary counsel’s burden of proof in a misappropriation case. Score one for the bar.
