Fresno attorney Preetinder Singh, also known as Peter Singh, will no longer be suspended should the California Supreme Court approve a recommendation from the California State Bar Court that was issued despite a state bar argument that the immigration law attorney has not been rehabilitated.
"The state bar argues [Singh] has not been rehabilitated and does not have present fitness to practice law," said the 15-page decision that granted a petition for relief from actual suspension signed by State Bar Court Judge Pat McElroy. "The court disagrees."
State bar counsel argued that Singh's suspension should not be lifted because he did not reveal that he founded a law group two weeks after he was suspended in 2015 by an immigration court, according to the decision. Singh has since worked for the law group as a part-time administrative assistant, the decision said, adding, "His work primarily consists of providing background administrative support, calendar management, and internal follow-up with other employees."
Singh complied with state bar rules that allowed him to form the law group and transfer his shares in anticipation of his suspension, according to the decision. "Omitting to reveal that he had formed a corporation is, therefore, irrelevant to his present fitness to practice law," the decision said.
The decision was issued Nov. 1 by the state bar court.
The state bar's decision is pending final action by the California Supreme Court, an appeal before the state bar's review department or expiration of time, in which parties can request further review within the state bar court.
Singh's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed earlier this month by the state bar court's hearing department for November.
Singh was admitted to the bar in California on Jan. 29, 2004, according to his profile at the state bar website and Singh had no prior discipline before the state bar.
Singh was suspended two years following a state supreme court order that took effect October 2015, according to the May 2016 California Bar Journal. Singh faced a three- year suspension that he had failed to comply with the terms of three years of disciplinary probation and he was required to take that multi-state professional responsibility examination, according to that edition of the California Bar Journal.