(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Convicted felon wins private hearing on reinstatement of law license • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- March']
Date: 2024-03-01
The Iowa Supreme Court has agreed to privately hear a convicted felon’s arguments as to why his law license should be reinstated.
In 2009, the court suspended the law license of Johnson County criminal defense attorney Jeffrey Fields after his conviction on two counts of felony fraudulent practices in connection with his failure to file income tax returns for three years. The suspension, which was for an indefinite period of no less than 18 months, was also tied to Fields’ alleged neglect of two client matters.
Court records indicate Fields had previously faced licensing sanctions on three other occasions. In 2001, he was privately admonished for failing to respond to inquiries from the state’s Attorney Disciplinary Board. In 2004, he was publicly reprimanded for neglecting client matters and failing to cooperate with board. In 2005, he was publicly reprimanded for failing to pursue a client’s postconviction-relief appeal, resulting in the dismissal of his client’s appeal.
The criminal convictions in 2009 resulted in a deferred judgment and three years of probation. Iowa Supreme Court records indicate that at the time of his license suspension, Fields had been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder which contributed to his legal and ethical difficulties.
In December 2023, Fields applied for reinstatement of his law license and provided the Iowa Supreme Court with letters of recommendation from other Iowa attorneys as well as letters from a psychiatrist and therapist that indicated no concern with Fields resuming his practice. The Attorney Disciplinary Board took no position on Fields’ application for reinstatement.
With a Supreme Court hearing on his reinstatement request scheduled for March 7, Fields filed a motion with the court arguing that the hearing should be closed to the public and that the court should refrain from livestreaming the proceedings. “Discussion of these matters at the hearing could be detrimental to (Fields’) reputation and make his return to the practice of law very difficult,” the motion stated.
The court recently granted Fields’ motion and ordered that his hearing on reinstatement will be closed to the public and that it will not be livestreamed.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/03/01/convicted-felon-wins-private-hearing-on-reinstatement-of-law-license/
Published and (C) by Iowa Capital Dispatch
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND-NC 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/iowacapitaldispatch/
