In re Sharif’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 district · 5 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Fundamentally, however, '[e]ach case must be decided on its own merits and every offending attorney must receive the disposition most appropriate in the circumstances.' " Matter of Foley , 439 Mass. 324 , 333, 787 N.E.2d 561 (2003), quoting Matter of the Discipline of an Attorney , 392 Mass. 827 , 837, 468 N.E.2d 256 (1984). Where, as here, an attorney has intentionally misused client funds with the intent to deprive the client of those funds, or where the client actually was deprived of the funds, regardless of the attorney's intent, the presumptive sanction is indefinite suspension or disbarment. Matter of Schoepfer , 426 Mass. 183 , 187, 687 N.E.2d 391 (1997). We apply that presumption because "there is minimal risk that an attorney's misuse of those funds will arise from any confusion, misunderstanding, or ambiguity as to whether the funds belong to the client or the attorney.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In the Matter of Strauss