People v. Adams.

No. 22PDJ016. 5/19/2022. Reciprocal Discipline.

June 2, 2022

The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ amended stipulation to reciprocal discipline and suspended Rick Daniel Adams (attorney registration number 52201) for 60 days, with 30 days to be served and 30 days to be stayed during a one-year period of probation, with conditions. The suspension took effect on May 19, 2022.

This reciprocal discipline case arose out of discipline imposed upon Adams in Arizona. On January 11, 2022, the Presiding Disciplinary Judge for the Supreme Court of Arizona entered an order suspending Adams from the practice of law for 30 days, followed by a one-year period of probation, with conditions. The sanction was premised on Adams’s agreement to create, fund, and run a law firm with a nonlawyer. Because Adams was aware of rules prohibiting nonlawyer ownership of law firms, he structured the firm in such a way as to obscure the nature of the nonlawyer’s ownership interest.

Through this conduct, Adams engaged in conduct constituting grounds for reciprocal discipline under CRCP 242.21, which calls for imposition of the same discipline as that imposed in Arizona.