Legal Ethics
Lawyer Suspended for Failing to E-File
Posted Apr 15, 2008, 12:28 pm CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A Topeka, Kan., lawyer has been suspended for three months, partly because he ignored a bankruptcy court’s warning that he needed to file his cases electronically.
The Kansas Supreme Court held that the lawyer, Stephen D. Harris, violated his duty to represent his clients with competence, diligence and promptness. The court ordered a suspension because of the e-filing problem as well as a second complaint that he mishandled a civil case, Legal Blog Watch reports.
New rules took effect in September 2004 requiring all bankruptcy pleadings to be filed electronically. But the lawyer didn’t comply and tried to file a case the old-fashioned way four months later, Legal Blog Watch reports, citing a report on the Legal Profession Blog.
The bankruptcy court ordered the lawyer to obtain training and a login for electronic filing in the next 30 days, but he didn’t comply, the Kansas Supreme Court said in its March 28 opinion. Instead he tried to file a second case by paper pleadings and received yet another warning. A third client who was unhappy with the lawyer’s failure to e-file for him filed a disciplinary complaint. Harris did not return the complaining client's $800 advance fee, the court said.
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Comments
Posted by KansasLawyer - 4 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 21 hours, 26 minutes ago
Ah, Topeka, Kansas making national news again… Just what we need! No, we’re not all that backwards, I promise!
Posted by R - 4 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 19 hours, 2 minutes ago
I hear in Topeka, “electronic filing” means using Morse Code.
Posted by RG - 4 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes ago
Thank god they’re more lenient in California or we’d have thousands of suspensions. Our Central District switched to e-filing on January 1. Unfortunately, you have to take a class before they will let you e-file. The courses are full for the next three months, and new classes typically fill up within hours of being posted on the Court’s web site. So as a practical matter, almost nobody can e-file, even though it’s required. The clerks allow manual filing [probably due process problems if the didn’t], but I suppose the court could still hold the attorney in contempt for intentionally disobeying the order when they could have hired one of the few approved attorneys.