Paying Your Dues

An attorney was suspended in South Carolina for non-compliance with CLE requirements and failing to pay annual dues "due to financial difficulties." He continued to work as a contract attorney on a document review project for about 10 months after the suspension. Thereafter, he worked as a paralegal, telling the firm that he was on inactive status. He "misunderstood' his true status and was unaware of a rule that "prohibits a suspended lawyer from working in any capacity connected with the law."

Problems began anew when he got reinstated. He failed to respond to a bar inquiry, citing depression as the cause. An agreed disposition of a two-year suspension, nunc pro tunc to his interim suspension entered March 11, 2005, was imposed by the South Carolina Supreme Court. (Mike Frisch)