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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
11/3/16
No. 15-BG-889
IN RE JEROME E. CLAIR, RESPONDENT.
A Suspended Member of the Bar
of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
(Bar Registration No. 207431)
On Report and Recommendation
of the Board on Professional Responsibility
(BDN-025-14)
(Submitted May 17, 2016 Decided November 3, 2016)
Before FISHER and EASTERLY, Associate Judges, and KING, Senior Judge.
PER CURIAM: On August 3, 2015, the Board on Professional Responsibility
(“the Board”) found that Jerome E. Clair, respondent, violated District of
Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct 3.3 (a)(1), 3.4 (c), 8.4 (c), and 8.5 (d) in
connection with his representation in a personal injury action against the District of
Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, as well as Rules 1.15 (a), 1.15 (c), 3.4 (c),
8.4 (b), and 8.4 (c) in connection with his representation in an estate matter. The
Board adopted all but one of the Ad Hoc Hearing Committee’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law, to which neither Mr. Clair nor Bar Counsel had filed
exceptions. Concluding that Mr. Clair had intentionally misappropriated funds
2
from the client in the estate matter, the Board recommended that he should be
disbarred, with the requirement to pay restitution with interest, pursuant to In re
Addams, 579 A.2d 190 (D.C. 1990) (en banc).
Pursuant to District of Columbia Bar Rule XI, § 9 (h)(2), “if no exceptions
are filed to the Board’s report, the Court [of Appeals] will enter an order imposing
the discipline recommended by the Board upon the expiration of the time permitted
for filing exceptions.” See also, e.g., In re Wemhoff, 142 A.3d 573 (D.C. 2016)
(per curiam); In re Fitzgerald, 109 A.3d 619 (D.C. 2014) (per curiam); In re
Hudson, 89 A.3d 517 (D.C. 2014) (per curiam). Neither Mr. Clair nor Bar Counsel
filed exceptions to the Report and Recommendation of the Board.1
Accordingly, respondent Jerome E. Clair is hereby disbarred from the
District of Columbia Bar. For purposes of reinstatement, the disbarment will begin
on the date that the respondent files an affidavit demonstrating compliance with
District of Columbia Bar Rule XI, § 14 (g). See § 14 (f).
1
Bar Counsel waived any exception to the Report and Recommendation of
the Board if Mr. Clair did not file exceptions.
3
It is further ordered that, as a condition of reinstatement, respondent must
pay in restitution the amounts determined by the Board: $51,257.88, plus interest
at the legal rate, to the Estate of Mable Mills (or to the Clients’ Security Fund, to
the extent that it has paid any monies in these matters); $1,020, plus the legal
interest rate, to Matthew Goodman, Esq.; and $500, plus the legal interest rate, to
the registry of the Superior Court.
So ordered.