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ST. LOUIS RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Springfield attorney suspended following DWI guilty plea

Discipline
Courthosue

JEFFERSON CITY (St. Louis Record) — Springfield attorney Terry Lee Garner has been suspended following an Oct. 29 Missouri Supreme Court order and his guilty plea in Hickory County to driving while intoxicated.

The Supreme Court suspended Garner with no application for reinstatement to be entertained by the court until six months from the date of the order. The court also ordered Garner to pay costs.

The court's order followed Garner's guilty plea in Hickory County Circuit Court to one misdemeanor count of DWI and one misdemeanor count of exceeding the speed limit. The order provided no additional information about the circumstances to lead to Garner's guilty plea.

Garner, a bankruptcy and general law attorney who founded Garner Law in Springfield, was admitted to the bar in Missouri Sept. 19, 2011, according to his profile at The Missouri Bar's website.

His suspension comes more than two years after he was reinstated to the Missouri bar in good standing after resolving a tax issued. In June 2018 the Supreme Court issued an order reinstating Garner after he "presented sufficient evidence that the matter is satisfactorily resolved."

Garner had been one of 26 attorneys suspended the previous May for failure to pay taxes. Garner is one of 13 of those attorneys suspended who have since been reinstated. 

In February 2018, online news digest Medium referred to Garner Law as “The Most Hated Law firm in Springfield.” Medium alleged "Tarry Garner" had violated "some basic rules" of professional conduct. “Our reliable sources show that this attorney is notorious when it comes to sexual harassment,” the Medium article said. “He has even gone to an extent of dating a teenager!”

The article apparently was based on a former client’s blog post the previous January.

An online search of the Supreme Court and Missouri Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel websites turned up no evidence of official charges filed against Garner based on the allegations.

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