Panel: Suspended Lawyer Only Pretended Not to Practice and Should Be Disbarred
After his law license was suspended, a prominent Kansas attorney essentially kept right on practicing, bringing in another lawyer to serve as the public front of his law firm but continuing to operate it himself from behind the scenes, contends a state attorney disciplinary panel.
It is now recommending that Chris Miller, a former Douglas County Republican Party chairman who focuses his practice on workers’ compensation, be disbarred, reports the Lawrence Journal-World.
Attorney John Ambrosio represents Miller and is disputing the panel’s conclusions. A hearing is scheduled next month before the state supreme court, which must decided whether to accept or reject the panel’s recommendation.
Miller was suspended in December 2006 for two years for overbilling the Kansas Insurance Department, the newspaper recounts.
At that point, he “simply changed the signature line on letters and pleadings,” hiring a Topeka lawyer “to review and sign letters, review and sign pleadings and make court appearances,” the panel contends in a report.
Ambrosio said the Topeka lawyer owned and operated Miller’s practice at the time.
