Quest to Rejoin State Bar Debated : Lawyers: A man convicted as an accessory to murder seeks reinstatement to the profession. A bar judge ruled in his favor, but opposition remains.

A San Bernardino man convicted as an accessory to a 1973 murder in Alaska and chastised by a judge for bringing “dishonor” to the legal profession is seeking to be reinstated as a lawyer in California.

And a California State Bar Court judge’s recommendation that he be allowed to practice again is stirring considerable dispute in the legal community, which is already concerned about its public image.

It is uncommon for attorneys to be reinstated after they have been disbarred or have resigned from the State Bar as they faced disbarment, as Duncan C. Webb did after he was convicted. Only six attorneys have been approved for reinstatement by the state Supreme Court in the last seven years, and just one of those involved a felony more serious than this one.

But Bar Judge Pro Tem Richard D. Burstein has found that Webb has “demonstrated his present moral character and his rehabilitation.”

Webb, now 56, was found guilty of repeatedly telling investigators that he had seen a murder victim off at the Anchorage airport when, in fact, he knew the man had been slain by Webb’s own clients. Webb contended in his defense that he had lied because he feared his clients would kill him. He received a two-year suspended sentence and was disbarred in Alaska.

In the opinion upholding the verdict, a justice of the Alaska Supreme Court wrote:

“Webb did more than simply lie. After the commission of a most brutal and coldblooded murder, he concealed or aided the murderers with knowledge that they had committed first-degree murder and with intent that they might avoid arrest, trial or conviction. This is a most serious offense. . . . He has brought great dishonor on the legal profession.”

But after an 11-day reinstatement trial in Los Angeles, and a review of letters supporting Webb from San Bernardino judges and public officials, as well as some of the country’s leading law librarians, Burstein said last week he will formally recommend that Webb be allowed to practice law in California.

Since his conviction, Webb has worked as a law librarian in three states and aided youth groups and other charities. Burstein said Webb has “sought out a new profession and pulled his life together, made significant contributions to the communities in which he found himself.”

In California, he noted, disbarment is not necessarily permanent under the law. He added: “I think we have to, within our tradition, believe in either redemption or in the possibility of a turning in one’s life.”

But some leading figures in the legal community expressed concern that the original offense was so great that Webb should not return to the practice of law.

Charles S. Vogel, president of the State Bar, said Friday that the Bar may appeal Burstein’s ruling. A final decision by the Supreme Court could be a year away.

“As a personal view, I would not want to admit or reinstate anyone who had been convicted of a crime of this gravity,” Vogel said.

Meanwhile, Robert Fellmeth, director of the Center for Public Interest Law, and an expert on the disciplining of errant lawyers, said he believes as a general principle that “the more serious the crime, the more evidence of rehabilitation would be required” before reinstatement.

“The question is: ‘Who should take the risk here?’ ” he said. “Are clients going to know about this? Is there going to be disclosure of the reinstated lawyer’s past? And what is the Bar role in that disclosure?” Fellmeth said he feared there would be no such disclosure.

In his closing arguments at the Bar Court trial, Allen Blumenthal, the lawyer for the Bar, said: “Let’s be blunt about it. If you reinstate Mr. Webb, the public will not understand it.”

Too many people already think, wrongly, that lawyers routinely aid their clients in the commission of crimes, Blumenthal said. He warned that reinstatement could further damage public confidence in the legal profession.

But Webb’s attorney, Arthur Margolis, told the court that Blumenthal’s arguments were “most offensive.”

“What (Blumenthal) is asking you to do is to take a political position,” Margolis said. “The State Bar is telling you (that) no matter what the facts are, no matter what the showing as to rehabilitation, the public will never understand and therefore you should act in accordance with the misunderstanding.”

If the public were to know all about the life Webb had led since resigning from the Bar, it would support reinstatement, he contended.

The judge agreed. “I believe that it’s appropriate for him to be reinstated,” Burstein said.