The Kansas Supreme Court last week imposed an indefinite suspension of the right to practice law on former state attorney general Phillip Kline for 11 violations of the rules of professional conduct in his investigation of abortion clinics while he served as Attorney General and for his role with a citizen-requested grand jury while he served as Johnson County District Attorney. In
In re Phillip Dean Kline, (KA Sup. Ct., Oct. 18, 2013), the Supreme Court, in a 154-page opinion, concluded:
The violations we have found are significant and numerous, and Kline's inability or refusal to acknowledge or address their significance is particularly troubling in light of his service as the chief prosecuting attorney for this State and its most populous county.
Ultimately, we unanimously conclude the weight of the aggravating factors—i.e., Kline's inability or refusal to acknowledge the line between overzealous advocacy and operating within the bounds of the law and his professional obligations; his selfish motives; and his lengthy and substantial pattern of misconduct—weigh more heavily than the mitigating factors and merit his indefinite suspension.
Five of the Supreme Court's seven justices disqualified themselves in the case and lower court judges were appointed to hear the case in their place.
National Law Journal, reporting on the decision, says that Kline is currently on the
faculty of Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, Virginia. He can petition for readmission in Kansas in three years.
