Former attorney general Marc Dann fights for his law license

mardc-dann.JPGView full sizeMarc Dann

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- By turns tearful, forthright, contrite and defensive, former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann fought to retain his law license Thursday morning as he took responsibility for misdemeanor crimes that destroyed his once-soaring political career.

Dann pleaded guilty and paid a $1,000 fine in 2009 for filing false financial statements and unlawfully compensating some of his own employees. He resigned as the state's top lawyer in 2008, two years after he was elected.

He testified for around an hour Thursday and answered sometimes-pointed questions of a lawyer and two judges appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to recommend a penalty for the disciplinary charges against Dann.

Lawyers on both sides of the case have recommend that his law license be suspended, but the penalty should be stayed. The hearing panel will make recommendations to the full Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, either in December or February. It will advise the Supreme Court, which will have the final word.

The panel did not have to gauge Dann's guilt because he and the high court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel agreed on the facts and also tentatively agreed on a penalty: a stayed six- month suspension, a symbolic punishment that would allow him to continue practicing.

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But in final argument around noon, Senior Assistant Disciplinary Counsel Joseph Caligiuri argued for a stayed one-year suspension. He noted that Dann took responsibility for his acts "but also attempts to minimize his own misconduct."

Alvin Matthews, Dann's lawyer, cautioned the panel that "these proceedings are hard, when you are a lawyer and have done something wrong, sitting on the witness stand and explaining your conduct. Explaining can sometimes be taken as not taking responsibility."

A lot of the testimony supported Matthews' contention that a chastened Dann has performed hundreds of hours of free legal work on behalf of people at risk of losing their homes to the mortgage meltdown.

In addition to the fine in Dann's criminal case, he was also required to perform 500 hours of community service. He chose to do that by volunteering at the Legal Aid Society.

Two clients testified about how he saved their homes. Legal Aid staff attorney Mary Beth McConville said Dann began taking referrals before his community service began, and continues to do so even though he satisfied the service requirement in February.

He presented documentation that has performed 680 hours of the pro bono work. He also has paying clients through his private practice in Shaker Heights.

"I love practicing law, but it was a business when I was a young lawyer, and I became a little less enamored with the work," Dann testified.

But he said that now, "for the first time in my life, I cannot wait to get of bed and represent these people, not just the pro bono clients. I cannot get to work fast enough, I am absolutely enthusiastic about the work I am doing now and hope I will have an opportunity to continue."

Dann said during a break in the hearing in the old county courthouse on Lakeside Avenue that there achievements by the attorney general's office that are still points of pride. These include reducing millions of dollars in government legal work that went to private law firms, increased consumer advocacy, and combating predatory lending even before the housing bubble burst.

But his misdeeds cost him personally and professionally.

Dann said his two children were very involved in his political life, and "my son lost his respect for me," after the resignation and "my daughter had to change schools four times." His marriage ended in divorce last year and he cannot hold public office for seven years.

Among his greatest errors, he said, were "inappropriate hubris and arrogance. I thought I was something special and was smarter than everybody."

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