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Although Michael Keith Brady has won victories
over alcohol addiction and two criminal convictions, the state Supreme
Court last month refused to give the Sacramento lawyer a chance to win
back his law license.
After a trial judge vacated the criminal
convictions that led to Brady's summary disbarment in June, the
attorney-turned-state-senate-consultant asked the court for a
rehearing of his case. But on Aug. 8, the court denied the request
without comment.
"We were stepping into uncharted territory,"
Brady said. "I thought that I'd at least have been given a written
opinion or given a chance to argue before the Supreme Court."
Brady, 49, was disbarred for moral turpitude
based on 1998 convictions of receiving stolen property and auto theft.
But after completing a court-ordered stint in a state prison
rehabilitation center, the charges were dismissed July 2 in a nunc pro
tunc order by Sacramento County Judge Gary E. Ransom.
Brady had argued that the disbarment order came
before his convictions were final, but State Bar attorneys countered
that his court-ordered treatment was no different than completing
parole, which under current law does not erase an automatic
disbarment.
"Although I respectfully disagree with the
State Bar's and the Supreme Court's decision, I graciously accept
it, and I choose to put that in my toolbox and move on," Brady said.
"One of the beautiful things about sobriety is
we can take an honest look at ourselves and deal with the wreckage of
the past," he continued. "It was by my own conduct that I was
disbarred, and I accept that . . . so I have nothing to complain
about."
Brady was a prominent criminal defense lawyer
until the late 1990s, when alcoholism and methamphetamine use led to
client abandonment, a wrecked marriage, homelessness, and finally, the
convictions.
He pleaded no contest to the charges, which
involved his possession of a stolen truck and construction equipment.
After Brady emerged from rehab, state Sen. John Burton hired him as a
consultant.
Brady served as a consultant to Burton on the
creation of a substance abuse program for alcoholic lawyers. |
