Sunday, August 2, 2009

Lawyer Disbarred - Conservatorship Cases

The Supreme Court disbarred a retired Topeka lawyer who continued to practice law in violation of a supreme court rule barring a retired lawyer from practicing law in Kansas.

The disbarment of Thomas O. Rost was based on two counts.

In those cases, the disciplinary administrator agreed to recommend that Rost receive an informal admonishment in exchange for his agreement to retire by Oct. 1, 2005. The disciplinary administrator and Rost reached that agreement on June 6, 2005, and Rost was informally admonished for violating Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct tied to attorney fees and misconduct.

In the counts tied to Rost’s disbarment, District Judge Frank Yeoman filed a complaint noting Rost signed a letter in April 2006 bearing the “Rost & Rost Attorneys at Law” letterhead that stated a delay in filing a conservatorship final accounting was due to the illness of Rost’s paralegal. Rost continued identifying himself with his attorney registration number in documents filed in conservatorship cases, and the judge was concerned a client might not be able to discern Rost wasn’t permitted to actively practice law.

Full Article and Source:
Topeka attorney is disbarred

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another no good lawyer, preying on the vulnerable.

Anonymous said...

I am not a lawyer, but I imagine this kind of news is very disturbing to those lawyers who are ethical. The actions of Thomas Roset need to be classified as criminal; he needs to be punished to get the attention of those who disregard authority.

Anonymous said...

Disbarment is great, but this is probably another case of an attorney getting a slap on the wrist.

Anonymous said...

Disbarment should only be step one.

Lawyers should also be fined for bad behavior. If they had to pay a fine, (which could be paid to the IOLTA fund) they'd straighten up.