No Sin To Be In Cincinnatti
The Ohio Supreme Court approved an application to sit for the bar examination
Applicant, Shannon O’Connell Egan, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is a 1998 graduate of the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. She was admitted to the Kentucky bar in October 1998 and the Indiana bar in October 2014.
In November 2015, Egan applied to register as a candidate for admission to the practice of law in Ohio and to take the July 2016 bar exam. Based on findings that Egan engaged in the unauthorized practice of law (“UPL”) by establishing offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, from which she practiced Kentucky law for more than ten years, the Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness recommends that we disapprove her current application but permit her to reapply for the February 2018 bar exam. We adopt the board’s findings of fact. Based on evidence of Egan’s exemplary character and professional reputation and the steps she and her firm have taken to rectify her conduct, however, we find that Egan has carried her burden of proving that she currently possesses the requisite character, fitness, and moral qualifications to practice law in this state. We therefore approve Egan’s pending application and permit her to sit for the February 2018 bar exam.
The situation
The evidence presented at the hearing shows that Egan accepted a position in the Cincinnati law office of Lerner, Sampson & Rothfuss in September 2002 and practiced Kentucky law from that office until March 2013, when she accepted a position with another Cincinnati law firm. Lerner, Sampson’s letterhead stated that Egan was “admitted in Kentucky.” Although the letterhead did not affirmatively state that she was admitted only in Kentucky, it so implied, in that it described other attorneys as “also admitted in Kentucky.” The board accepted Egan’s testimony that she limited her practice to Kentucky matters, that she did not hold herself out as an Ohio lawyer or enter an appearance in an Ohio court, and that she neither met with clients nor conducted depositions in Ohio.
She applied for Ohio admission in 2008 but encountered the issue of unauthorized practice
In rejecting that application, bar-admissions counsel reiterated the reasons that Egan’s previous application was rejected and suggested that she contact the Board on the Unauthorized Practice of Law if she had questions about the effect of her legal employment in Ohio. In response to that letter, Graydon, Head & Ritchey moved Egan to the firm’s Kentucky office—though she continued to work in the firm’s Cincinnati office approximately 40 percent of the time—issued her new business cards, and changed her signature block. The firm also sought advice from the Cincinnati Bar Association, who downplayed the UPL issue and advised that Egan would have to take the bar exam and that she would likely be asked questions about potential UPL issues if she applied to take the exam…
The board found that Egan’s testimony seemed honest and sincere and that she has presented evidence that she is a very competent and careful attorney. But it also stated that it was “difficult to believe that she did not have some inkling that there might be a problem” when her applications for admission without examination were twice rejected for practicing law in a jurisdiction in which she was not admitted to the bar.
The court held
Although we find that Egan engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in this state for an extended period of time, we note that she did not engage in the practice of Ohio law, and there is no evidence tending to demonstrate that she caused any harm to her clients or the citizens of Ohio. Based on evidence of Egan’s exemplary character and professional reputation and the steps that she and her firm took to relocate her practice to Kentucky once they realized the import of her conduct, we find that Egan has carried her burden of proving that she currently possesses the requisite character, fitness, and moral qualifications to practice law in this state. Therefore, we approve Egan’s pending application and permit her to sit for the February 2018 bar exam, provided that she satisfies the remaining registration requirements.
In this era of mobile practice, I applaud this result. (Mike Frisch)