Robert S. Baska filed this appeal from the final decision of the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants “the Board” denying Baska’s application for a certificate of fitness to practice law in Georgia. Part F, Sec. 7, Rules Governing Admission to the Practice of Law. This Court has promulgated rules which govern admission to the State Bar of Georgia. See Rules Governing the Admission to Practice Law. Pursuant to those Rules, the Board to Determine Bar Fitness “shall inquire into the character and fitness of applicants for admission to the practice of law and shall certify as fit to practice law those applicants who have established to the Board’s satisfaction that they possess the integrity and character requisite to be members of the Bar of Georgia.” Part A, Sec. 2, Rules Governing Admission to the Practice of Law. During its investigation into Baska’s character, reputation and background, the Board required Baska to appear for an informal conference in September 2005 and, thereafter entered a tentative order denying his application for certification. Part A, Sec. 7 a, Sec. 8 a, Rules Governing Admission. Following Baska’s request for a formal hearing, the Board prepared specifications of the reasons for its tentative order of denial and this Court appointed a member of the State Bar of Georgia to serve as the hearing officer. Rule 8 a, Rules Governing Admission. In its specifications, the Board noted that Baska had been a general surgeon in Vermont who had lost his Vermont medical license in 2002 after a hearing before the State of Vermont Board of Medical Practice. According to the specifications, the Vermont Board had found Baska had violated the American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics by engaging in a sexual relationship with a patient from 1997-2001; had engaged in unprofessional conduct during his care of five patients, including the failure to follow the standard of care; and had evidenced unfitness to practice medicine by his behavior with patients, their families, and nursing staff between 1998-2001. The Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants, noting a Vermont newspaper article that suggested Baska had disappeared from Vermont when lawsuits based on his medical practices were filed and affidavits from plaintiffs’ attorneys concerning an inability to serve Baska with their civil complaints, found a lack of candor in Baska’s statement to the Board that he had never tried to hide following his medical license revocation. The Board determined that the above-summarized actions constituted “a pattern of conduct that demonstrates a lack of integrity, character, and the requisite moral fitness required of a prospective member of the State Bar of Georgia.” The Board found Baska had not demonstrated sufficient evidence of remorse at the informal hearing with the Board and an insufficient amount of time had passed since the misconduct to permit full rehabilitation.1
After conducting an evidentiary hearing in April 2006, the hearing officer issued written findings of fact in June 2006 and recommended to the Board that Baska be allowed to sit for the bar exam after August 2006. The Board held a second informal conference with Baska on November 2, 2006, and thereafter voted unanimously not to accept the hearing officer’s recommendation, citing the reasons set forth in its earlier-issued specifications. Baska then filed this appeal from the entry of the Board’s formal order of November 14 denying his application for a certificate of fitness.
