The Disciplinary Board was established to provide a procedure for investigating, evaluating and acting upon complaints alleging unethical conduct by attorneys licensed in North Dakota. The Rules of Professional Conduct are the primary guide for lawyer conduct, and the North Dakota Rules for Lawyer Discipline provide the procedural framework for the handling and disposition of complaints. By Supreme Court rule, the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards provides the vehicle for the coordinated, complementary, and continuing study and review of the range of issues concerning attorney conduct and discipline.
When a written complaint alleging attorney misconduct is received, it is filed with the Board’s secretary and referred to the District Inquiry Committee Northeast, Southeast or West of the State Bar Association. The chair of the respective committee reviews the complaint and, if appropriate, assigns the complaint for investigation to a member of the committee or staff counsel. If the complaint, on its face, does not indicate misconduct, an investigation will not be initiated and the matter will be referred to the committee for summary dismissal. Actions available to district inquiry committees include dismissal, issuing an admonition, probation with the consent of the respondent attorney, or directing that formal proceedings be instituted.
Formal proceedings are instituted when a petition for discipline is filed which outlines the charges against the attorney. A hearing panel is appointed by the chair of the Disciplinary Board to consider the petition and other evidence regarding it, make findings and a recommendation, and enter appropriate orders. Present and past members of the Board may serve as hearing panel members. Recommendations of the hearing panel which do not result in dismissal, consent probation, or reprimand are filed directly with the Court. The Court’s standard of review in these instances is de novo on the record. The hearing panel may enter orders of dismissal, consent probation or reprimand; however, they are subject to a petition for review that is filed with the Court. This petition must show that the panel acted arbitrarily, capriciously or unreasonably.
Non-lawyer citizens are members of the District Inquiry Committees and the Disciplinary Board. All members of the Board and the Inquiry Committees are volunteers and are asked to review what, at times, can be very time-consuming matters. While many complaints are dismissed as groundless, the amount of volunteer time needed to run the system is significant.
Ronald F. Fischer, Grand Forks, served as chair of the Disciplinary Board in 2004. Paul Jacobson, Bismarck, serves as Disciplinary Counsel, and Brent Edison, Bismarck, serves as Assistant Disciplinary Counsel.
Following is a summary of complaint files under consideration in 2004.
New Complaint Files Opened in 2004 | 247 |
General Nature of Complaints: | 19 24 1 2 9 9 110 53 3 9 1 4 3 |
TOTAL | 247 |
Formal Proceedings Pending From Prior Years | 23 |
Other Complaint Files Pending From Prior Years | 73 |
Appeals Filed with Disciplinary Board in 2004 | 27 |
Appeals Filed with Supreme Court in 2004 | 0 |
Total Files for Consideration in 2004 | 370 |
Disposition of Complaint Files: | 110 1 80 21 3 20 1 5 0 1 8 2 0 2 *4 **2 2 31 81 |
TOTAL | ***374 |