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SJC 13062 Lionel Porter,
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V Board of Bar Examiners.
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Okay. Mr. Porter.
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My name is Lionel Porter Pro Se.
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Mrs. Chief Justice, and may it please the court,
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this is a case which involves Article 12
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of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights,
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Rules of the Board of Bar Examiners 5,1
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and Mass General Law Chapter 221,
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section 41, governing the unauthorized practice of law
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and the combined interpretation
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and application of these laws in determinations
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about the petitioner's fitness for admission
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to the Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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On his 20th application,
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the petitioner passed the Massachusetts bar,
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the written portion, sitting on February 14th, 2014.
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At sometime in April, 2014,
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the petitioner was requested to attend an informal hearing
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at the (indistinct) Board of Bar Examiners,
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later scheduled for May 21st, 2014.
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On May 22nd, 2014, the petitioner received a letter
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from the board stating that his commission,
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his admission could not be made at this time.
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Following an investigation,
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there was a formal hearing held on March 25th, 2016.
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On September 7th, 2016, there was a non-qualification report
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submitted to this court stating that
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the petitioner should not be admitted.
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On November 25th, 2020,
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a single justice of this court affirmed,
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this appeal follows.
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The petitioner and attorney Stephen Hrones
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began a business relationship in September, 2001.
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Petitioner was a graduate of
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the University of Connecticut School of Law.
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He was subsequently legal redress chair
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of the South Middlesex Branch of the NAACP.
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In that capacity he filed race discrimination complaints
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at the MCAD.
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At some point to petitioner and attorney Hrones
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agreed to solicit probable cause findings
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from the commission.
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The parties collaborated on a letter
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that was sent to the commission on the firm's letterhead,
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listing the petitioner as a paralegal.
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In his first week or so at the Hrones firm,
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the petitioner settled one of the firm's race,
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gender discrimination complaints for $10,000.
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Of that $10,000 Attorney Hrones retained one-third
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of the petitioners share.
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Over the next two years,
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the petitioner's case load increased exponentially.
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At one point there were 100 open files.
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The petitioner did not have a computer
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nor technical resources
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and the result was some cases were not filed on time
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and some discovery deadlines were not met.
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The fact of the petitioner's case load was noted
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by Hrones in a motion to set aside a judgment involving
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a case that had been given to the petitioner
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when he came to the firm.
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Hrones statement about the caseload
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and the inadvertences are notable.
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He, meaning the petitioner, researches
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and drafts key documents by hand
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as opposed to on the computer.
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These multiple duties existing on him resulted
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in the unfortunate but inadvertent neglect in filing
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the plaintiff's opposition to the defendant's motion
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to dismiss within the allotted time.
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There were complaints arising from the missed deadlines.
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At one point, because of the complaints,
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a call was made to attorney Hrones
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by the assistant bar counsel,
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demanding that he sever relationships with the petitioner.
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The petitioner departed the firm in October, 2004.
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He was not fired by Hrones
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because he was never employed by the firm.
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The missed deadlines resulted in issues
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with the Mass Commission Against Discrimination
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whereby the firm was disbarred,
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was barred from filing complaints there, in part because
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of non-appearance by Attorney Hrones in a case involving
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a veteran, also because of missed filing deadlines
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by the petitioner, as well as allegations
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of the petitioner being engaged in
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the unauthorized practice of law.
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At one point, the petitioner did not split
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or share the fees with Hrones but retained them himself,
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had checks made out to him by the clients.
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Mr. Porter, may I ask you a question?
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Yes, sir.
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First and foremost, a lot of people
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would have given up long ago instead of taking
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the bar 20 times and eventually passing,
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you should be commended for your stick-to-itiveness.
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One of the things that the single justice talked about
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in the decision was the issue with the repossession
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of the vehicle and some of your responses
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as to how that happened.
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Can you talk to us a little bit about that situation?
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Thank you, sir, and I shall,
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I was studying through the bar around that time.
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I think the year must have been around 2007
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and I had rented a place from an attorney friend.
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I wasn't working, so I fell behind in the lease payment
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so I decided to go to a Payday Loan outfit
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that was based in Nashua, New Hampshire
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and got a payday loan.
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The collateral, I mean, the security was my BMW,
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which was paid for.
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So this was not a matter of a lender
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coming after a car that was still being paid for.
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I'd already paid for it.
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The lender and I had agreed because of payments being
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in arrears that I would catch up.
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Here before I'd been going to the lender
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and hand-delivering payments to them.
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In this instance, I'd fallen behind
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and had gotten assurances from the lender
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that nothing would occur
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they would allow me a chance to catch up,
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notwithstanding that agreement,
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an agent was sent to pick up the car.
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I saw someone outside with a tow truck,
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lights were flashing.
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I didn't take note of it right away
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because I was studying for the bar
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but when I looked out the outside again,
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I saw that the person was still there talking on the phone.
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It made me uncomfortable because I thought
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perhaps this was someone coming to repossess,
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to take the car, not repossess because it was never,
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it was always my car.
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It was paid for.
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The party apparently went someplace else
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because I took the car and moved it.
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And when I came back, they were parked on another street.
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And at some point I decided to go outside and move the car.
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The agent saw me getting in the car,
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turn the key and he banged on the driver's side,
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yelled an epithet and wanted to have me get out of the car.
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I refused to do so because in my estimation,
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in my view, there had already been in agreement, okay,
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that I'd have time to make restitution.
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The agent got in front of the car
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and as I was trying to move it
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and I was inching along, you know, not at a high speed,
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barely moving because I was cognizant of his presence.
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The intent was not to injure him,
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but he stood there and pushed onto the hood.
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And at one point jumped on top of the hood,
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which I thought was, you know, ridiculous
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under the circumstances.
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Thank you.
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Mr. Porter, can I ask you another question
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just for clarification?
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Yes, sir.
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You told us that you were not employed by Mr. Hrones
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and then you also characterized yourself
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in your efforts for him as being his paralegal.
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What was your relationship with Mr. Hrones?
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It's been described as a paralegal relationship.
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I'm not sure that's accurate, but that's.
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I want, you tell me how you would describe it.
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I would describe it, as I said at the outset
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as having a collaborative relationship with Hrones,
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I don't think it was conventional paralegal relationship,
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as I understand it, where someone hires you,
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you're on their payroll, you have employment benefit,
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you have benefits, that seems to fit the definition,
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the more conventional definition of a paralegal.
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That was not me,
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we'd come together to talk about how to
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in some ways, give me experience
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okay, watching a skilled attorney
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who had a reputation as a civil rights lawyer,
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gain skills watching him, learning from him.
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So, you know, it's a title that I've been struggling
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with myself because I didn't see it
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as a conventional paralegal relationship with a firm.
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Did you find cases for Mr. Hrones?
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I filed cases?
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Or did you find them for him?
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Did you refer cases to Hrones?
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There were cases that I had at the NAACP.
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There may have been two or three that I referred
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or brought to him from the NAACP.
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Now I didn't market, advertise or solicit.
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The cases that came to the firm primarily
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were cases that were referred by
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the Boston Bars Referral Service.
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That was where the majority of the cases came from, okay?
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The remaining came from,
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were sourced from the letter that we had collaborated on
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and that had been sent through the MCAD.
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I did not advertise, solicit or market.
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Thank you, Mr. Porter.
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Yes, sir.
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Okay, are there any other questions?
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No, thank you.
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Okay, thank you so much, Mr. Porter.
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Okay, Attorney Welnicki.
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Thank you.
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May it please the court, Matthew Welnicki
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for the Board of Bar Examiners.
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Judges, we are here today to talk about
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the burdens and standards with respect to bar admissions.
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Now, most importantly,
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the Board of Bar Examiners is the gatekeeper.
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Sure you're all aware of their function.
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There are certain standards that the Board of Bar Examiners
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has, they're by statute, they're by SJC rule,
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they're by the BBE's own rules.
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Under those standards, the burden is on the petitioner,
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the applicant to show that he or she has
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the requisite character and fitness to practice law,
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it is very commendable and I agree, your honor,
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that Mr. Porter had to stick-to-itiveness
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to take the bar 20 times, pass the bar.
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That's not what brings us here today.
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Among those standards and burdens on which again,
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Mr. Porter has the burden of proof
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is not only showing the requisite character and fitness,
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but also if there are concerns in the past
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to showing that there's been some degree of rehabilitation.
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Now we looked through Mr. Porter's papers,
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we hear a lot and what we heard today
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was a lot about what may have
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happened when you worked with Mr. Hrones.
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We heard about the repossession incident,
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throughout the papers we have other instances
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that are mentioned,
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the single justice also mentioned in her decision,
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as well as the board's itself in their findings
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concerns that the board has with some inconsistencies,
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possible non-disclosures, inconsistent disclosures
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throughout the 20 different applications.
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Those are very important when the petitioner wants
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to satisfy that burden to become an attorney
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here in Massachusetts.
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One of the reasons why the petitioner in these cases
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has that burden of proof,
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because there's not a right to practice law.
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As this court held in the Prager matter,
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becoming an attorney,
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becoming a member of the bar is what this court
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has referred to as a peculiar privilege.
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It's a privilege that someone has to show
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that they meet that burden in order to practice.
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And that's because,
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especially with the Board of Bar Examiners
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being the gatekeeper,
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they have to make sure that the person can represent others,
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can serve a public service.
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They stand out as an officer of the court.
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They stand out as a representative of people.
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So that burden becomes very important.
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And when we have things like non-disclosures
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or inaccurate disclosures, it's very troubling
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to the board because then the board has
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to go through materials to find out
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what the story actually is, what's going on there.
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And when we get to the rehabilitation point,
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the cases talk about the,
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there's no crime or no action
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that's probably too egregious to prevent someone
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from ever becoming rehabilitated
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and becoming a member of the bar.
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But that also cuts both ways, your honors.
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You know, in some of Mr Porter's papers,
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he suggests that what's in his past
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isn't as egregious as some of the abject criminality
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and some of the other matters that we cite.
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But again, it's a two-way street.
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When this court says that there's no crime or no action
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that's too egregious that can allow for rehabilitation,
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there's also no action that's too diminimous
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or too non-problematic that doesn't mean
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you can skip over the rehabilitation.
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How does he rehabilitate himself?
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He can rehabilitate himself by showing community service,
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dedication to the public, education and training classes
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and above all, your honor,
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showing a fundamental awareness of what the conduct was,
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what the problems were, how it can be avoided in the future.
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What I'm hearing today
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when the questions were asked about
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the unauthorized practice of law
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or the volunteered statements about the
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unauthorized practice of law, I believe he said
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that Mr. Hrones kept his share
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yet he wasn't employed by Mr. Hrones.
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I don't believe there's been any acknowledgement
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throughout these proceedings,
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that there was serious concerns about
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the unauthorized practice of law.
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Same thing with the repossession,
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same thing with the disclosures among the applications.
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Rather when you read the papers,
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the answers that are given are answers
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about his counsel during the BBE proceedings
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not providing him a copy of the draft report,
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the investigative report
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00:17:50.330 --> 00:17:52.266
and what happens in these BBE proceedings
307
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is an investigative report is prepared,
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they state not only the concerns that the BBE has,
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if you read the investigative report here
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also mentioning any information that the petitioner
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wants to provide, information about rehabilitation,
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what they're doing.
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For example, there's a portion of the investigative report
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that mentions, it wasn't a disclosure
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about one civil action, but Mr. Porter says
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that he was not aware of that civil action
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and the investigative report actually notes that
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we went back to the courts and found that
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his story about not being aware of the default
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in that action could be supported
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by lack of notice through the court filings.
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So it's not a one-sided process, but Mr. Porter claims
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that he didn't get a copy of that investigative report
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until his own attorney provided to him after the hearing.
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Well that investigative report was exhibit number one,
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and I believe the only exhibit to the evidentiary hearing
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held by the Board of Bar Examiners.
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And that argument about not having the investigative report
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until this proceeding, that was never raised
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at the single justice or to the Board of Bar Examiners
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after the fact.
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And again, this is not a right to effective assistance
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of counsel case.
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This is not something where Mr. Porter's liberty
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is at stake.
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This is a situation where he's trying to meet
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his burden of becoming an attorney.
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Someone that would recognize that if there were problems
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00:19:17.540 --> 00:19:20.423
with the process, they should be raised promptly.
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And when we look at what's in the investigative report,
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that's obviously very important,
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00:19:25.912 --> 00:19:28.711
but what's more important is that Mr. Porter comes
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to this court and shows that he has the character
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and fitness that he has been rehabilitated
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if there are problems out there.
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When Mr. Porter has the opportunity in his papers
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to talk about what he's done,
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he mentioned that he has taught classes, that's admirable.
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It's vague on what classes he's taught or when he's taught.
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00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:52.310
There's other mentioned that he feels repentance
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or remorse for some of the conduct, no specifics, no gen,
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it's all generalities in there.
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So it's very tough to see that there
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has been any rehabilitation.
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Aspirations, goals about what he might do in the future,
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again, those are something that are admirable
357
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but they don't show present character
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and fitness to practice law.
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I don't think I need to go into all the details
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00:20:17.210 --> 00:20:19.510
about why the single justice was concerned,
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why the board itself was concerned.
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Those are all in the papers.
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00:20:23.010 --> 00:20:25.380
Those are all in the single justice's report.
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That's in the BBE's report.
365
00:20:26.970 --> 00:20:28.670
That's in the special investigative report.
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It's all out in papers.
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The purpose isn't to pile on here
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the concerns that were had,
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and I'm not going to do that today.
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If you have any concerns about that,
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you can look for yourself.
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The bigger concern I have here is the standards
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and the burdens and I don't believe
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that they are being fully addressed by Mr. Porter
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in coming to this court,
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asking to become a member of the bar.
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If there are any questions,
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I'm happy to answer them right now.
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Okay, it looks like we're all set.
380
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Thank you very much.
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Thank you very much, your honors.