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E-Filing Incompetence Gets Lawyer Suspended

The assertion that lawyers these days need to be technologically competent is repeated so often that it is in danger of becoming a platitude. But here is a disciplinary case that underscores the point. Michael S. Frisch at Legal Profession Blog points us to a decision of the Supreme Court of Kansas, In the Matter of Harris, in which a lawyer was given a three-month suspension from practice, in large part for his inability to obtain a login name and password for the bankruptcy court's e-filing system.

The lawyer's troubles began in September 2004, when the U.S. Bankruptcy Court adopted a rule requiring all pleadings to be filed electronically and instructing attorneys to obtain a login and password. Four months later, when the lawyer attempted to file a bankruptcy case using paper, the court ordered him to attend a training on e-filing and obtain a login within 30 days. Two months later, still without a login, he again attempted to file a case using paper, and again the court advised him that he must file electronically. This pattern continued until a client came along who was adamant that his case be filed before changes took effect to the bankruptcy law in October 2005. When it became clear to the client that the lawyer did not have a login and would not file his case on time, he pulled his case from the lawyer and filed a disciplinary complaint against him.

The Supreme Court concluded that the lawyer's failure to take the appropriate steps to be able to e-file his clients' bankruptcy pleadings violated the duty he owed to represent them competently and to handle their affairs with reasonable diligence and promptness. These facts, combined with a second complaint alleging that the lawyer failed to prosecute a civil case he was defending, led the court to accept the  disciplinary panel's recommendation that the lawyer be suspended for three months. Unclear from the decision is why the lawyer never obtained a login and used the e-filing system as he was ordered to do. Perhaps it was his fear of technology, perhaps is was simple inertia.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 11, 2008 at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)