Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Robinson (Slip Opinion)

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as

Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Robinson, Slip Opinion No. 2021-Ohio-2123.]

NOTICE

This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in

an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports. Readers are requested

to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio,

65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or

other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be

made before the opinion is published.

SLIP OPINION NO. 2021-OHIO-2123

LORAIN COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION v. ROBINSON.

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it

may be cited as Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Robinson, Slip Opinion No.

2021-Ohio-2123.]

Attorneys—Misconduct—Violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct—

Overbilling for services performed as court-appointed attorney—Two-

year suspension, with one year stayed on conditions.

(No. 2021-0228—Submitted March 31, 2021—Decided June 29, 2021.)

ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme

Court, No. 2020-028.

______________

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} Respondent, Jeanette Michele Robinson, of Elyria, Ohio, Attorney

Registration No. 0060035, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1992.

On October 13, 2020, we suspended her license on an interim basis after she was

convicted on a single fifth-degree-felony count of theft. In re Robinson, 161 Ohio

St.3d 1272, 2020-Ohio-4868, 164 N.E.3d 499.

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{¶ 2} In a June 10, 2020 complaint, relator, Lorain County Bar

Association, alleged that the conduct underlying Robinson’s theft conviction—

overbilling for the work she performed as a court-appointed attorney—violated

six professional-conduct rules. The parties submitted stipulations of fact,

misconduct, and aggravating and mitigating factors. They also jointly

recommended that Robinson be suspended from the practice of law for two years

with no credit for the time served under her interim felony suspension, be required

to pay additional restitution beyond that which was ordered in her criminal case,

serve a two-year period of monitored probation upon her reinstatement, and

comply with additional restrictions on her future court-appointed work.

{¶ 3} After a hearing, a three-member panel of the Board of Professional

Conduct issued a report in which it found that Robinson committed the charged

misconduct and recommended a sanction that varied from the parties’ agreed

sanction—namely, that the second year of Robinson’s suspension be conditionally

stayed. Further, the panel did not recommend any period of monitored probation

upon Robinson’s reinstatement. The board adopted the panel’s report in its

entirety and no objections have been filed.

{¶ 4} After reviewing the record in this case, we adopt the board’s

findings of misconduct and recommended sanction.

Stipulated Facts and Misconduct

{¶ 5} In 2019, relator began investigating allegations that Robinson had

overbilled for work she had performed as a court-appointed attorney in the Lorain

County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division, from 2016 through 2019. In

August 2020, approximately two months after relator filed the complaint in this

matter, Robinson pleaded guilty to a single fifth-degree-felony count of theft that

arose from the same underlying conduct. On October 7, 2020, the trial court

sentenced Robinson to three years of community control and ordered her to make

restitution of $29,319 to Lorain County within one year and abstain from seeking

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court-appointed legal work for two years. State v. Robinson, Lorain C.P. No.

20CR102843 (Oct. 7, 2020).

{¶ 6} Robinson has admitted that she knowingly overbilled the Ohio

Public Defender’s Office and Lorain County for court-appointed work that she

performed from 2016 through 2019. In her testimony before the hearing panel,

she admitted that her fraudulent billing statements were submitted to and

approved by trial judges. Further, Robinson acknowledged that she made false

statements to nonjudicial personnel, and the stipulated exhibits establish that her

fraudulent billing statements were received and certified by the county auditor

before the county issued payment to her. She explained that at the time of her

misconduct, she was experiencing a series of severe medical problems and did not

have sufficient health insurance to cover the costs of her treatment. Robinson’s

medical conditions have since stabilized, and she has obtained full-time

employment as a condition of her community control.

{¶ 7} The parties stipulated and the board found that Robinson’s conduct

violated Prof.Cond.R. 1.5(a) (prohibiting a lawyer from making an agreement for,

charging, or collecting an illegal or clearly excessive fee), 3.3(a)(1) (prohibiting a

lawyer from knowingly making a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal),

4.1(a) (prohibiting a lawyer from knowingly making a false statement of material

fact or law to a third person), 8.4(b) (prohibiting a lawyer from committing an

illegal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty or trustworthiness),

8.4(c) (prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty,

fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation), and 8.4(d) (prohibiting a lawyer from

engaging in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice).

{¶ 8} We adopt these findings of misconduct.

Sanction

{¶ 9} When imposing sanctions for attorney misconduct, we consider all

relevant factors, including the ethical duties that the lawyer violated, the

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aggravating and mitigating factors listed in Gov.Bar R. V(13), and the sanctions

imposed in similar cases.

{¶ 10} Three aggravating factors are present and were stipulated to by the

parties: Robinson acted with a dishonest or selfish motive, committed multiple

offenses, and engaged in a pattern of misconduct. See Gov.Bar R. V(13)(B)(2),

(3), and (4). As for mitigating factors, the parties stipulated that Robinson (1)

lacks a prior disciplinary record, (2) made a timely, good faith effort to make

partial restitution by paying the $29,319 in restitution ordered in her criminal

case, (3) made full and free disclosure to the board and exhibited a cooperative

attitude toward the criminal and disciplinary processes, (4) submitted evidence of

her good character and reputation in the legal community, and (5) had other

penalties or sanctions imposed for her criminal conduct. See Gov.Bar R.

V(13)(C)(1), (3), (4), (5), and (6). In addition to adopting those mitigating

factors, the board found that Robinson had fully acknowledged the wrongful

nature of her misconduct, was “exceedingly remorseful” for her actions, and had

agreed to pay an additional $50,000 in restitution; she testified that she had

submitted this money to her counsel prior to her disciplinary hearing.

{¶ 11} The parties stipulated that Robinson should be suspended for two

years with no credit for the time served under her interim suspension and be

required to pay $50,000 in restitution in addition to the $29,319 that she was

ordered to pay in her criminal case. They also agreed that she should be required

to serve a two-year period of monitored probation with additional restrictions on

her future court-appointed work.

{¶ 12} In determining the appropriate sanction to recommend for

Robinson’s misconduct, the board considered Dayton Bar Assn. v. Rogers, 116

Ohio St.3d 99, 2007-Ohio-5544, 876 N.E.2d 923, and Disciplinary Counsel v.

Smith, 152 Ohio St.3d 337, 2017-Ohio-9087, 96 N.E.3d 234. In each of those

cases, we imposed a two-year suspension on an attorney who, like Robinson,

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fraudulently billed clients for work that they did not perform. The board,

however, distinguished those cases on the ground that both Rogers and Smith

refused to acknowledge the wrongful nature of their misconduct, while Robinson

fully acknowledged the wrongfulness of her misconduct and expressed remorse

for her actions. See Rogers at ¶ 16; Smith at ¶ 36. Moreover, Rogers had

previously been publicly reprimanded for similar misconduct, Rogers at ¶ 1, 18,

and Smith had failed to make any restitution by the time of his disciplinary

hearing, Smith at ¶ 36.

{¶ 13} The board found that Robinson’s conduct was most comparable to

two other cases cited by the parties: Toledo Bar Assn. v. Stahlbush, 126 Ohio

St.3d 366, 2010-Ohio-3823, 933 N.E.2d 1091, and Dayton Bar Assn. v. Swift, 142

Ohio St.3d 476, 2014-Ohio-4835, 33 N.E.3d 1. Like Robinson, Stahlbush

submitted false and fraudulent billing statements for court-appointed work.

Stahlbush stipulated that she billed the county more than 3,400 hours in a single

year and that she had submitted numerous billing statements in which she averred

that she had worked 14 to 24 hours in a day. Stahlbush at ¶ 3. We found that

Stahlbush had acted with a dishonest or selfish motive, committed multiple

offenses, and engaged in a pattern of misconduct. However, she had no prior

disciplinary record, submitted positive character references, made an undisclosed

amount of restitution, and had been denied additional court-appointed work in the

juvenile court, which had been her primary source of income. Id. at ¶ 7-8. We

suspended Stahlbush from the practice of law for two years, with the second year

stayed on the conditions that she submit to one year of monitored probation and

commit no further ethical violations. Id. at ¶ 17.

{¶ 14} Swift submitted inflated billing statements for court-appointed

services in four separate counties over a two-and-a-half-year period. Like

Robinson, he was found to have knowingly made false statements of material fact

to a tribunal and third persons, engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud,

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deceit, or misrepresentation, and engaged in conduct that was prejudicial to the

administration of justice. Although Swift was not convicted of a crime, we found

that his misconduct adversely reflected on his fitness to practice law. Swift at

¶ 15, 17. In addition to the same aggravating factors that are present in

Robinson’s case, Swift failed to make restitution prior to his disciplinary

hearing—though the parties ultimately stipulated that he owed $50,000 in

restitution. Id. at ¶ 17-20.

{¶ 15} In accord with Stahlbush, we suspended Swift for two years with

the second year stayed on the conditions that he submit to a one-year period of

monitored probation and engage in no further misconduct. We also conditioned

his reinstatement on his payment of $50,000 in restitution. Id. at ¶ 23.

{¶ 16} On the authority of Stahlbush and Swift, the board recommends that

we suspend Robinson from the practice of law for two years, with no credit for

the time served under her interim felony suspension but with the second year

stayed on conditions that include the payment of $50,000 in restitution, in

addition to the $29,319 already paid as part of her criminal sentence. Based on

the panel’s observation of Robinson’s testimony, the panel found and the board

agreed that it is highly unlikely that Robinson will reoffend in this manner and

therefore rejected the parties’ stipulation that she be required to serve two years of

monitored probation. They did, however, adopt the parties’ recommendations

that she be required to comply with all orders in her criminal case and that upon

Robinson’s resumption of court-appointed work, she be required to furnish copies

of her billing statements for that work to relator for a period of one year.

{¶ 17} Here, Robinson’s misconduct caused financial harm to the

taxpayers of Lorain County, and her dishonesty cast a negative light on the legal

profession as a whole. After thoroughly reviewing the board’s findings of fact

and conclusions of law, the applicable aggravating and mitigating factors, and the

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sanctions we have imposed for comparable misconduct, we believe that the

board’s recommended sanction is the appropriate sanction in this case.

Conclusion

{¶ 18} Accordingly, Jeanette Michele Robinson is suspended from the

practice of law in Ohio for two years, with no credit for the time served under the

interim felony suspension imposed on October 13, 2020, but with the second year

stayed on the conditions that she (1) comply with all orders of the Lorain County

Court of Common Pleas in case No. 20CR102843, (2) pay $50,000 in restitution

to Lorain County in addition to the $29,319 in restitution ordered in her criminal

case, and (3) engage in no further misconduct. If Robinson fails to comply with

any condition of the stay, the stay will be lifted and she will serve the full two-

year suspension. For the first year that Robinson serves as court-appointed

counsel following her reinstatement to the practice of law, she shall furnish copies

of all billing statements for her court-appointed work to relator. Costs are taxed

to Robinson.

Judgment accordingly.

O’CONNOR, C.J., and KENNEDY, FISCHER, DEWINE, DONNELLY, STEWART,

and BRUNNER, JJ., concur.

_________________

O’Toole, McLaughlin, Dooley & Pecora Co., L.P.A., Matthew A. Dooley,

and Michael R. Briach, for relator.

Milano Attorneys at Law, Jay Milano, and Kate Pruchnicki, for

respondent.

_________________

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