Each year, several hundred attorneys and judges in Arkansas end up on a delinquency list for not paying their annual dues or other fees to the Arkansas Supreme Court clerk’s office to maintain their legal licenses.
Many are dead or retired, but some are still alive and working, practicing law with a license they might not even know is suspended.
About May 15 of each year, a list is sent out to judges and attorneys who have not paid their fees, which are due each March 1 and if not paid by that date result in automatic license suspension. This year’s list ran 14.5 pages.
A license suspension does not necessarily nullify any arguments, decisions made or orders signed by attorneys during that time, said Stephanie Harris, communications counsel for the Arkansas Supreme Court.
But in March, in Pulaski County Circuit Court, Judge Herb Wright declared a mistrial in a first-degree murder case because one of the defense attorneys involved, David M. Littlejohn, had not paid a fee required to reinstate his legal license after failing to meet continuing-education requirements. The judge set a new trial date for June.
On May 17, Faulkner County Circuit Judge H.G. Foster paid his fee and the late charge after hearing that his name was among those on the delinquent list.
“I beat feet down there to Little Rock and paid the fee,” said Foster, who previously served as a special prosecutor.
Foster said he had the mistaken impression that in his new position as 1st Division judge, the county would pay the fee for him.
He said the lapse was his fault and that he was looking forward to continuing his work in the county.
“It was about as embarrassing a memory as I have in the recent past,” he said.
State officials said they believed that the rule on de facto authorities - or people performing duties with public acquiescence without technically having the right to - has allowed for any decisions or actions taken by such people to stand.
Past court decisions have upheld this principle, - such as in Farm Bureau Policyholder and Members v. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. of Arkansas in 1997 at the Arkansas Supreme Court and Parker v. U.S. in 2006 in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
A party in a case can attempt to use a suspended legal license as grounds for a mistrial or appeal, but the outcome might vary a case-by-case basis, Harris said.
“I can’t say that it would be an automatic mistrial,” she said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 05/30/2013