A Firm Resolve

The Mississippi Supreme Court denied the petition for reinstatement of a lawyer who had lost his license as a result of a conviction for paying a sheriff's deputy to not appear in court in connection with drunk driving charges against his clients. The court noted a number of charitable activities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (his wife owns a Holiday Inn in Gulfport) but questioned`the extent to which the charity was attributable to the petitioner. The court concluded that there was insufficient evidence of "a firm resolve to live a correct life." A dissent would grant the petition, noting that readmission had been granted on similar showings in cases involving equally serious misconduct and contending that it was unfair to consider the application of a rule change adopted after the order of disbarment that would make the petitioner ineligible for reinstatement. (Mike Frisch)