DPC takes up disciplinary amendments.

Suspended lawyers who must retake the bar exam before reinstatement should be required to do that before they file their reinstatement petition, according to the Bar's Disciplinary Procedure Committee.

The committee also is proposing that Bar prosecutors have some flexibility about seeking an automatic suspension for lawyers convicted of felonies.

DPC Chair Dennis Kainen presented two rule amendments to the Board of Governors at its recent Tallahassee meeting and also said the committee is looking at a diversion program for "disruptive" lawyers whose conduct might not merit major discipline in a grievance case but whose repeated bad behavior pattern needs to be addressed.

On the reinstatement proposed amendment, Kainen said some suspended lawyers were applying for reinstatement before taking the bar exam.

"That created problems," he said. "We're suggesting language ... which says before you can apply [for reinstatement] you have to have already provided proof of completing and passing the bar exam."

(Suspended lawyers who wait more than five years to seek reinstatement are required under Bar rules to retake the bar exam.)

In Rule 3-7.2 dealing with felony suspension, Kainen said there was concern that the current rule language made it appear that a felony conviction...

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