In re Kennedy

The single issue in this appeal is whether the respondent, George W. Kennedy, should be disbarred or given the lesser sanction of indefinite suspension. By a four-to-three vote, with the minority favoring disbarment, the Board of Bar Overseers (board) voted to recommend Kennedy’s indefinite suspension.1 A single justice of this court agreed (but acknowledged that the question was a close one). She ordered Kennedy’s indefinite suspension. We give the matter de novo review (cf. Matter of Alter, 389 Mass. 153, 156 [1983]), and conclude that the appropriate sanction is disbarment.

On January 16,…