Avoiding Trips To Oklahoma Leads To Suspension From Practice

An Arkansas attorney has been suspended for 24 months by a panel of the Committee on Professional Conduct for misconduct in connection with a bankruptcy matter.

The clients had purchased a thirty-five acre farm in "far eastern Oklahoma." They moved their legal residence from Arkansas, where they both worked. They sought representation for a possible bankruptcy as a result of "mounting bills for expenses plus medical bills" from the wife's injury.

The misconduct involved using an Arkansas address to file while knowing that the clients resided in Oklahoma, using the Arkansas address on tax returns and failing to file the tax returns in either state for 2009. The attorney also made false statements to the bankruptcy court.

Why?

 "He filed in Arkansas as a convenience to himself, so he would not have to travel several hours into the Oklahoma court site to service the [clients'] case at hearings there..." (Mike Frisch)