Menu Content/Inhalt
5 per-cent of Ohio lawyers have been suspended PDF Print E-mail
Written by Daniel White   
Monday, 05 December 2005

Submitted by Dennis Thomas

According to this story:
About 5 percent of Ohio's attorneys are on suspension because they failed to pay a $300 registration fee, the state Supreme Court said.

The court on Friday barred about 2,500 lawyers from practicing until they've been reinstated, marking the first time the state has issued suspensions under the policy and the first time that such a large number of attorneys have been suspended simultaneously.

So far, there haven't been any cries demanding the outlawing of lawyers, since clearly, one in twenty have shown that they are not capable of handling the vast responsibilities that come with admittance to the bar. Lawyers frequently hold great influence over the safety of society in general, some even enable the most dangerous of criminals to be returned to the street. One can only hope that the local newspapers will be printing full lists of such suspended lawyers, along with their age and county of residence. After all, citizens have the right to know if the lawyer next door or co-worker at the office is a delinquent.

(Click 'READ MORE' to continue...)

This is tongue-in-cheek, but the anti-gunners practically squeal in delight as each quarter's CHL statistics are released that show the number of suspensions and revocations. For the most part, these lawyers have been suspended for administrative reasons, and it is reasonable to expect that they will be returned to full licensure once they have paid their fees. Despite the fact that the rate of suspended and revoked CHLs is, and continues to remain far below those of other equally "dangerous" licenses (lawyers, drivers, etc), little attention is ever paid to the fact that a fair number of CHLs appear on the suspended or revoked list for administrative or "no fault" reasons as well. As CHL holders pass away, their licenses are revoked. During divorce cases, one or both parties are often served with TPOs as a matter of practice so as to keep them away from each other, requiring a suspension. In many cases, the TPOs are later rescinded, thus enabling the resumption of a CHL to full status.

The bottom line is that so far, Ohio CHL holders have, and continue to show that they are a statistically responsible group. To further clarify the issue, however, it might be worth allowing a third category of license status, "Cancelled" to indicate when a license has passed away, or they opt to turn theirs in when they move to another state.