ERMEA RUSSELL - Click for the full story!
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Decided: July 25, 2015
EN BANC. ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ERMEA J. RUSSELL (PRO SE) ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: ADAM BRADLY KILGORE
¶1. Appellant Ermea J. Russell files a Petition for Reinstatement to the practice of law following a ten-month suspension. Because Russell's petition fails to meet the jurisdictional requirements for reinstatement, we deny her request.
FACTS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2. On July 10, 2015, Russell was suspended for ten months resulting from a Formal Complaint filed at the request of former clients. Based on nine separate informal complaints, the Mississippi Bar found that Russell had failed to provide representation for which she was hired, return client property, and properly withdraw from representation of her clients. These informal complaints indicated her lack of diligence and lack of communication regarding her clients' legal representation. Through its investigations, the Complaint Tribunal found seven violations of Rules 1.16(d), 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, and 8.1 of the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct, which resulted in her suspension.
CONCLUSION
¶18. We find that Ermea J. Russell has not successfully shown the Court that she has met the jurisdictional requirements outlined in Rule 12 of the Mississippi Rules of Discipline. As she has failed to meet these requirements, we are not convinced that Russell exhibits both the moral and professional rehabilitation necessary to be reinstated to the practice of law. As a result, we deny Russell's petition for reinstatement and bar the petitioner from filing another request for reinstatement until one year after the date of this decision, pursuant to Rule 12.6 of the Mississippi Rules of Discipline.
¶19. PETITION FOR REINSTATEMENT DENIED.
BEAM, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:
WALLER, C.J., DICKINSON AND RANDOLPH, P.JJ., KITCHENS, KING, COLEMAN AND CHAMBERLIN, JJ., CONCUR. MAXWELL, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.
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