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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
No. 17-BG-228
IN RE SHARON STYLES-ANDERSON, RESPONDENT.
A Suspended Member of the Bar
of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
(Bar Registration No. 412158)
On Report and Recommendation
of the Board on Professional Responsibility
(DDN-010-17)
(Decided March 14, 2019)
Before GLICKMAN, FISHER, and MCLEESE, Associate Judges.
PER CURIAM: In this reciprocal-discipline matter, the Board on Professional
Responsibility recommends that respondent Sharon Styles-Anderson be suspended
from the practice of law in the District of Columbia for fifteen months, be required
to prove fitness before reinstatement, and make restitution in a separate disciplinary
matter. Neither Ms. Styles-Anderson nor Disciplinary Counsel takes exception to
the Board’s recommendation.
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The Board found as follows. Ms. Styles-Anderson is a member of the District
of Columbia Bar, but is not admitted to practice in Virginia. In 2015, Ms. Styles-
Anderson represented a juvenile in state-court proceedings in Virginia. Ms. Styles-
Anderson initially was not affiliated with local counsel, and she admits that she
affirmatively misrepresented her status as a non-Virginia attorney when she entered
her appearance. As part of this representation, Ms. Styles-Anderson collected legal
fees, including advance legal fees that Ms. Styles-Anderson did not deposit into a
trust account. The parents of the juvenile represented by Ms. Styles-Anderson
retained counsel to recover the fees from Ms. Styles-Anderson. Ms. Styles-
Anderson agreed that her conduct violated numerous of the Virginia Rules of
Professional Conduct. Pursuant to an agreed disposition, Ms. Style-Anderson was
suspended from the practice of law in Virginia for fifteen months. Subsequently,
this court temporarily suspended Ms. Styles-Anderson from the practice of law in
the District of Columbia, pending resolution of a reciprocal-discipline proceeding.
On September 15, 2017, Ms. Styles-Anderson filed the affidavit required by D.C.
Bar R. XI, § 14(g), attesting that Ms. Styles-Anderson had informed her clients that
she could no longer represent them.
In reciprocal-discipline matters, identical discipline will ordinarily be
imposed. D.C. Bar R. XI, § 11(c). The Board in this case recommended an identical
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fifteen-month suspension from the practice of law in the District of Columbia, with
a fitness requirement and the requirement that Ms. Styles-Anderson make restitution
in a separate disciplinary matter, In re Styles-Anderson, 184 A.3d 846, 847-48 (D.C.
2018) (per curiam). The Board further recommended that this sanction run
concurrently with the sanction imposed in the other matter.
Except in circumstances not applicable here, “if no exceptions are filed to the
Board’s report, the [c]ourt will enter an order imposing the discipline recommended
by the Board.” D.C. Bar R. XI, § 9(h)(2); see In re Viehe, 762 A.2d 542, 543 (D.C.
2000) (per curiam) (“When . . . there are no exceptions to the Board’s report and
recommendation, our deferential standard of review becomes even more
deferential.”). We discern no reason to depart from the Board’s recommendation.
Accordingly, it is
ORDERED that Sharon Styles-Anderson is suspended for fifteen months,
nunc pro tunc to September 15, 2017, and that, per the sanction imposed in her earlier
discipline matter, she be required to prove her fitness to practice and make restitution
in the earlier matter before reinstatement. In re Styles-Anderson, 184 A.3d at 847-
48.
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So ordered.