Topical Luncheon Recap: the Client Facing Criminal and Disciplinary Charges
| Publication year | 1995 |
| Pages | 1037 |
1995, May, Pg. 1037. Topical Luncheon Recap: The Client Facing Criminal and Disciplinary Charges
In January, the CBA Administrative Law Forum Committee and Criminal Law Section cosponsored a topical luncheon with the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar on the common occurrence of representing a client who faces concurrent criminal and administrative disciplinary charges.(fn1) The audience included prosecutors from the Colorado Attorney General's Office, administrative law judges and private practitioners who regularly represent clients in either criminal or administrative cases.
The panel of speakers reflected the mix in the audience. Sheila Meer, of Sheila H. Meer, P.C., represents licensed professionals and health care facilities; Lee Foreman, of Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, does primarily criminal defense work; and Assistant Attorney General William E. Thro of the Education Unit of the Attorney General's Office rounded out the program with insights from the regulatory point of view.
The program began with a description of various scenarios that may present themselves when a licensed professional comes to see an administrative lawyer. In a "worst case" scenario, the client may already have been through the criminal system with a conviction or a negotiated settlement that makes the subsequent administrative case almost impossible to win. A plea of guilty to a lesser felony than charged, with probation, which seemed like a good outcome to the licensee, may in fact establish a per se violation of the disciplinary statute.
Many Colorado statutes allow regulatory agencies to deny, suspend or revoke a license where the licensee is found guilty of the commission of a felony or has entered a guilty or nolo contendere plea to a felony.(fn2) The licensee's criminal lawyer may not have been sensitive to the administrative ramifications when he or she negotiated with the assistant district attorney or advised the client about whether to take the offer.
Whether or not the negotiated settlement or conviction in the criminal case involves a per se disciplinary violation, the administrative lawyer will need to consider the applicability of the principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel. Res judicata normally will not apply because of differences in the burden of proof, level of culpability and issues.(fn3) Collateral estoppel bars relitigation of an issue when (1) it...
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