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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
No. 16-BG-471
IN RE TOAN Q. THAI, RESPONDENT.
A Suspended Member of the Bar
of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
(Bar Registration No. 439343)
On Report and Recommendation
of the Board on Professional Responsibility
(DDN357-09)
(Submitted January 13, 2017 Decided April 13, 2017)
Toan Q. Thai, pro se.
Wallace E. Shipp, Jr., Disciplinary Counsel, for the Office of Disciplinary
Counsel.
Before MCLEESE, Associate Judge, and REID and WASHINGTON, Senior
Judges.*
PER CURIAM: The Board on Professional Responsibility found that
respondent Toan Q. Thai committed numerous violations of the District of
Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct in connection with his representation of
clients in immigration proceedings, by among other things failing to safeguard
*
Judge Washington was the Chief Judge at the time this case was
submitted. His status changed to Senior Judge on March 20, 2017.
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client funds, engaging in reckless or intentional misappropriation, neglecting
clients’ cases, failing to communicate with clients, failing to return unearned fees,
engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, failing to respond to Disciplinary
Counsel’s inquiries, and committing criminal misconduct reflecting adversely on
his honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness. The Board recommended that Mr. Thai
be disbarred and required to pay restitution to certain clients as a condition of his
reinstatement.
Pursuant to District of Columbia Bar Rule XI, § 9 (h)(2), “if no exceptions
are filed to the Board’s report, the Court will enter an order imposing the discipline
recommended by the Board.” Mr. Thai did not file an exception to the Board’s
recommendation. Mr. Thai did, however, file a brief response to an order requiring
him to show cause why this court should not enter an interim order of suspension
pending final action. In that response, Mr. Thai denied certain of the Board’s
conclusions but did not present any persuasive basis for rejecting those
conclusions. We therefore accept the Board’s recommendation. Accordingly, it is
ORDERED that Toan Q. Thai is hereby disbarred from the District of
Columbia. It is
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FURTHER ORDERED that, as a condition of reinstatement, Mr. Thai must
pay restitution to his clients in the amounts determined by the Board: $3,000, plus
interest at the legal rate, to Heesoek Lee; $4,500, plus interest at the legal rate, to
Cuong Bao Tang and Long Dang; and $2,000, plus interest at the legal rate, to
Bich Thi Ngoc Huynh. For the purposes of reinstatement, the period of disbarment
will begin to run when Mr. Thai has filed an affidavit demonstrating full
compliance with District of Columbia Bar Rule XI, § 14 (g).
So ordered.