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Kansas City attorney reciprocally suspended in Missouri for representing clients on inactive license

ST. LOUIS RECORD

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Kansas City attorney reciprocally suspended in Missouri for representing clients on inactive license

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Kansas attorney Kenton M. Hall, has been reciprocally suspended following an Oct. 2 Missouri Supreme Court order after his suspension in Kansas late last summer over allegations he represented clients there when his Kansas law license was inactive.

Hall's six months suspension in Missouri, dated from June 2 according to the Missouri Supreme Court order, followed his 60-day suspension handed down in the Kansas Supreme Court's 24-page proceeding in discipline issued Sept. 2, 2016. Hall was ordered to pay costs in both high court rulings.

Hall, of Kansas City, Kansas, was admitted to the bar in Missouri on April 28, 1989, according to his profile at the Missouri State Bar's website. He was admitted to the bar in Kansas Oct. 5, 1988, according to the Kansas proceeding.

Hall became an attorney in the Missouri Public Defenders Office shortly after he was admitted to the bar in Missouri and worked there until 2003, according to the Kansas proceeding.

In 1990, Hall changed the status of his law license in Kansas to inactive and his license was suspended Nov. 5, 1996, after he failed to pay the inactive fee. His license in Kansas remained inactive after that date, according to the Kansas proceeding.

In separate cases in 2012 and 2013, Hall applied to appear pro hac vice on behalf of defendants in Johnson County and Wyandotte County district courts but did not list his Kansas Bar membership or its status on his applications, according to the Kansas proceeding. Hall's requests were accepted and he represented defendants in both cases, according to the Kansas proceeding.

In August 2013, another attorney filed a complaint with the disciplinary administrator in Kansas after it appeared Hall was planning to represent a client in an Overland Park, Municipal Court Case, despite his Kansas law license being inactive, according to the Kansas proceeding.

In a motion filed by Hall, the lawyer said he believed he'd been acting in good faith when he submitted his pro hac vice applications, according to the Kansas proceeding. "[Hall] had previously believed, in error, that his Kansas Bar license was merely, 'inactive'," said the Kansas proceeding, quoting that motion.

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