Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Fowerbaugh

This disciplinary case presents the court with an opportunity to provide guidance to certified grievance committees and the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline in all cases where an attorney engages in a pattern of conduct of misleading or lying to a client concerning a legal matter entrusted to the lawyer by the client. DR 1-102(A)(4) is straightforward and unambiguous. It states that a “lawyer shall not * * * [e]ngage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.”

In discipline cases where an attorney has deceived a client, we have imposed a varying…