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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
No. 16-BG-790 9/15/16
IN RE KATHY D. BAILEY, RESPONDENT.
A Member of the Bar
of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
(Bar Registration No. 427407)
On Report and Recommendation of the Board on Professional Responsibility
Hearing Committee Number Five
Approving Petition for Negotiated Discipline
(BDN-341-12)
(Decided: September 15, 2016)
Before BECKWITH and MCLEESE, Associate Judges, and FARRELL, Senior
Judge.
PER CURIAM: This decision is non-precedential. Please refer to D.C. Bar R.
XI, § 12.1 (d) governing the appropriate citation of this opinion.
In this disciplinary matter, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board
on Professional Responsibility Hearing Committee Number Five (“the
Committee”) recommends approval of a revised petition for negotiated attorney
discipline. The violations stem from respondent Kathy D. Bailey’s professional
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misconduct arising from her negligent misappropriation of funds belonging to
three clients, failure to supervise staff, and failure to maintain adequate records of
client funds.
Respondent acknowledged that she (1) negligently misappropriated funds
belonging to her firm’s clients; (2) failed to hold client funds and third-party funds
separate from the firm’s funds; (3) failed to maintain adequate records of client
funds; (4) failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure her firm had in effect
measures giving reasonable assurance that all lawyers in the firm conformed to the
District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct (“the Rules”); (5) was
responsible for another lawyer’s violation of the Rules; (6) failed to make
reasonable efforts to ensure her firm had in effect measures giving reasonable
assurance that the conduct of all nonlawyers in the firm was compatible with the
professional obligations of a lawyer; and (7) supervised a nonlawyer but failed to
make reasonable efforts to ensure that the person’s conduct was compatible with
the professional obligations of a lawyer, thereby violating Rules 1.15 (a), 5.1 (a) &
(c), and 5.3 (a) & (b) of the Rules, and D.C. Bar Rule XI, § 19 (f).1 The
1
The court deleted D.C. Bar Rule XI, § 19 (f), effective February 9, 2016, as
duplicative of Rule 1.15 of the Rules, but the rule remained in effect at the time of
respondent’s misconduct.
3
Committee considered the aggravating factors and mitigating circumstances, which
included the following: (1) respondent cooperated with Disciplinary Counsel; (2)
respondent took full responsibility and agreed that aggravating factors support the
imposition of a fitness requirement; (3) respondent has no prior discipline; and (4)
the misconduct occurred during a discrete six-month period. Disciplinary Counsel
and respondent negotiated the imposition of discipline in the form of a two-year
suspension, with the requirement that respondent establish her fitness to practice
law before reinstatement. After reviewing the revised petition for negotiated
discipline, considering an amended supporting affidavit, and conducting a limited
hearing, the Committee concluded that the revised petition for negotiated discipline
should be approved.
We accept the Committee’s recommendation because the Committee
properly applied D.C. Bar R. XI, § 12.1 (c), and we find no error in the
Committee’s determination. Based upon the record before the court, the negotiated
discipline of a two-year suspension from the practice of law, with reinstatement
conditioned upon demonstrating fitness to practice law, is appropriate considering
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the existence of both aggravating and mitigating factors and the discipline imposed
by this court in other cases of misappropriation.2
In accordance with our procedures in uncontested disciplinary cases, we
agree that this case is appropriate for negotiated discipline, and we accept the
Committee’s recommendation. Accordingly, it is
ORDERED that Kathy D. Bailey is hereby suspended from the practice of
law in the District of Columbia for two years, with reinstatement conditioned upon
demonstrating fitness to practice law. We direct respondent’s attention to the
requirements of D.C. Bar R. XI, § 14 (g) and its effect on her eligibility for
reinstatement. See D.C. Bar R. XI, § 16 (c).
So ordered.
2
E.g., In re Fair, 780 A.2d 1106, 1115-16 (D.C. 2001) (finding an attorney
who negligently misappropriated funds and exhibited a pattern of neglect in the
administration of an estate warranted a fourteen-month suspension from the
practice of law with reinstatement conditioned on a showing of fitness).