After the Court of Appeals for the Western District dismissed five of an attorney’s cases due to missing briefs, the Missouri Supreme Court entered an order of interim suspension against her.
The Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel (OCDC) suspended Allison Greer Kort of the Kort Law Firm on June 20.
“We do have rules that are much more specific that we usually hold to but there are always exceptions," said Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Judge Sherri Sullivan. “There are motions that can be filed to extend the time, but we definitely have deadlines.”
Among the cases dismissed were two juvenile matters after Kort was allegedly given several briefing deadline extensions, according to media reports.
“While every effort will be made to bring expeditious resolution to Informant’s investigations, it is in the public’s best interest that [Kort] be prohibited from continuing to practice law while Informant’s investigations proceed,” stated David Brengle, a staff attorney for OCDC, in the decision.
As previously reported in Missouri Lawyers Media, OCDC immediately suspended Kort’s law license because there was a substantial threat of irreparable harm to the public under a court rule.
“The rules are spelled out more specifically for appellate procedure in the Missouri Rules for Appellate Procedure,” Sullivan said as to why the appellate rules deadlines are stricter than in the lower trial court.
Kort argued that she had not received notices from the OCDC and that she only learned about the complaint from the motion to suspend filing.
But the state's highest court rejected Kort's July 5 request that the suspension be rescinded.
Kort is licensed to practice law in Kansas, North Carolina, California and Texas and Kort has withdrawn herself from some 14 cases pending in Missouri and Kansas
Kort, who has a law degree from the University of Texas and beame licensed in Missouri in 2017, is also a law professor.
She has served as a faculty member at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Duke University and Atlanta’s John Marshall School of Law.
Kort declined to comment.
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