IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2020-BR-00430-SCT
IN RE: REINSTATEMENT OF ATTORNEY ROE
ATTORNEY FOR PETITIONER: PIETER JOHN TEEUWISSEN ATTORNEY FOR RESPONDENT: ADAM BRADLEY KILGORE NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - BAR MATTERS DISPOSITION: PETITION FOR REINSTATEMENT GRANTED - 05/27/2021 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: MANDATE ISSUED:
EN BANC.
KING, PRESIDING JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:
¶1. Attorney Roe1 petitions this Court for reinstatement to active bar status after being on
disability inactive status since 2002. Because the record indicates that Roe’s disability is
removed and because circumstances and justice so require, this Court grants Roe’s petition
for reinstatement.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2. Roe was suspended from the practice of law for ninety days in 2002 due to a variety
of disciplinary infractions in three separate cases. Roe did not appear before the Mississippi
Bar to defend the underlying cases. Following her suspension, Roe was placed on personal
1 This Court granted the unopposed motion to treat this cause as confidential due to sensitive health information. This opinion in will refer to the petitioner as “Roe” and will eliminate information that could compromise Roe’s confidentiality. See In re Reinstatement of Doe, 22 So. 3d 262, 263 n.3 (Miss. 2009) (“Information which may compromise Doe’s confidentiality has been omitted from this opinion.”). incapacity/disability inactive status until further order of this Court due to her mental health
condition. The disciplinary infractions and the subsequent failure to respond to the bar
complaints against her were a result of severe depression and anxiety that resulted in an
impairment of cognitive function. Additionally, Roe was enduring a significant personal
crisis. Roe’s condition caused her to avoid people, including clients, as well as led to a lack
of concentration and extreme insomnia. At the time, Roe was also unable to recognize the
repercussions of her mental health condition.
¶3. Roe participated in two weeks of inpatient treatment for her depression, and then she
participated in outpatient treatment. Over the course of the years, she has also seen
therapists, psychiatrists, and psychiatric nurse practitioners regarding her mental health
condition. Roe has tried several different medicines to treat her depression, and since 2013,
she has been medicated with Cymbalta, which has worked well for her. With the help of
treatment, Roe represents that she is now able to be vigilant regarding any sign that her
mental health condition is compromised.
¶4. In 2003, Roe began voluntarily participating in the Lawyers and Judges Assistance
Program (LJAP), despite not being required to do so by the 2002 order placing her on
disability inactive status. Since that time, she has participated in sessions with LJAP twice
a month, with the exception of an approximately three-year period in which she was unsure
that she wanted to return to the practice of law. Roe also entered into a monitoring contract
with LJAP, despite not being required to do so. For several years, Roe held nonlegal
employment, some part-time, then graduated to full-time nonlegal work. Eventually, she
2 began to miss the challenges of the law and believed her mental health to be robust enough
to attempt a return to legal work. To ease herself back in, she began working in various
positions of legal assistant and office manager, and then began working as a paralegal. She
testified that she began her transition back into the law via positions in which she was not
responsible for final decision-making in cases to ensure her mental health was not negatively
impacted. After success with gradually increasing her responsibility and challenges in the
legal field, she began working full time as a law clerk, a position she still holds. Roe has not
engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.
¶5. On April 30, 2020, Roe petitioned this Court for an order reinstating her license to
practice law. She represents that she repaid the clients from her 2002 proceedings any
unearned fees and helped them find substitute counsel as applicable. She submitted to an
LJAP-approved psychiatrist, who noted that her depression was in full remission and noted
that she was high functioning. The social worker who facilitates Roe’s LJAP group also
wrote a letter indicating her belief that Roe was fit to return to the practice of law. She noted
that Roe’s depression had been in remission for a number of years and that she “support[s]
her efforts for reinstatement to the Mississippi Bar and ha[s] no reservations about her fitness
to practice law.”
¶6. Roe also submitted four letters of recommendation supporting her reinstatement, three
from attorneys who have known her for many years and one from her current employer. Her
current employer wrote in detail about Roe’s “exemplary” work as a law clerk and about her
honesty regarding her past mental health struggles. Her employer also noted that her position
3 as a law clerk allows her to keep up to date on legal issues. Her employer concluded that
“[n]o one working with her today in any capacity would ever know that [Roe] struggled with
depression in the past. She is not only extremely capable, she is exuberant, energetic and
personable. . . . As her supervisor and the person most familiar with her current capabilities,
I repeat, I strongly support her petition for reinstatement.” Further, Roe noted her
involvement in the community, including church and volunteer activities.
¶7. This Court ordered the Mississippi Bar to investigate and respond to the petition. The
Bar conducted its investigation, reviewing the information submitted by Roe and the medical
information, as well as taking Roe’s deposition. The Bar found that Roe was forthcoming
in both her petition and her deposition regarding the reasons behind her disciplinary
suspension and her disability inactive status. The Bar concluded that Roe is in compliance
with the requirements for reinstatement from disability inactive status. It noted that “[t]he
medical evidence and testimony submitted supports [sic] that [Roe] possesses the necessary
personal capacity to properly manage herself, her affairs or the affairs of others with the
integrity and competency requisite for the proper practice of law.”
ANALYSIS
¶8. This Court “has exclusive and inherent jurisdiction of matters pertaining to attorney
discipline [and] reinstatement[.]” Miss. R. Discipline 1(a); In re Reinstatement of Doe, 22
So. 3d at 264. This Court reviews petitions for reinstatement de novo. Doe, 22 So. 3d at
264.
4 ¶9. Rule 23 of the Mississippi Rules of Discipline2 governs the process for an attorney
seeking reinstatement to the Mississippi Bar following placement on disability inactive
status. Rule 23(b) provides that
Procedures for reinstatement of an attorney transferred to disability inactive status shall be, insofar as is applicable, the same as the procedure for reinstatement of an attorney following suspension upon disciplinary grounds. The petition for reinstatement shall be filed with the Clerk of the Court, and a copy shall be served upon the Bar, An investigatory fee of $1,000.00 shall be paid to the Bar in addition to any other sum due to the Bar.
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2020-BR-00430-SCT
IN RE: REINSTATEMENT OF ATTORNEY ROE
ATTORNEY FOR PETITIONER: PIETER JOHN TEEUWISSEN ATTORNEY FOR RESPONDENT: ADAM BRADLEY KILGORE NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - BAR MATTERS DISPOSITION: PETITION FOR REINSTATEMENT GRANTED - 05/27/2021 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: MANDATE ISSUED:
EN BANC.
KING, PRESIDING JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:
¶1. Attorney Roe1 petitions this Court for reinstatement to active bar status after being on
disability inactive status since 2002. Because the record indicates that Roe’s disability is
removed and because circumstances and justice so require, this Court grants Roe’s petition
for reinstatement.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶2. Roe was suspended from the practice of law for ninety days in 2002 due to a variety
of disciplinary infractions in three separate cases. Roe did not appear before the Mississippi
Bar to defend the underlying cases. Following her suspension, Roe was placed on personal
1 This Court granted the unopposed motion to treat this cause as confidential due to sensitive health information. This opinion in will refer to the petitioner as “Roe” and will eliminate information that could compromise Roe’s confidentiality. See In re Reinstatement of Doe, 22 So. 3d 262, 263 n.3 (Miss. 2009) (“Information which may compromise Doe’s confidentiality has been omitted from this opinion.”). incapacity/disability inactive status until further order of this Court due to her mental health
condition. The disciplinary infractions and the subsequent failure to respond to the bar
complaints against her were a result of severe depression and anxiety that resulted in an
impairment of cognitive function. Additionally, Roe was enduring a significant personal
crisis. Roe’s condition caused her to avoid people, including clients, as well as led to a lack
of concentration and extreme insomnia. At the time, Roe was also unable to recognize the
repercussions of her mental health condition.
¶3. Roe participated in two weeks of inpatient treatment for her depression, and then she
participated in outpatient treatment. Over the course of the years, she has also seen
therapists, psychiatrists, and psychiatric nurse practitioners regarding her mental health
condition. Roe has tried several different medicines to treat her depression, and since 2013,
she has been medicated with Cymbalta, which has worked well for her. With the help of
treatment, Roe represents that she is now able to be vigilant regarding any sign that her
mental health condition is compromised.
¶4. In 2003, Roe began voluntarily participating in the Lawyers and Judges Assistance
Program (LJAP), despite not being required to do so by the 2002 order placing her on
disability inactive status. Since that time, she has participated in sessions with LJAP twice
a month, with the exception of an approximately three-year period in which she was unsure
that she wanted to return to the practice of law. Roe also entered into a monitoring contract
with LJAP, despite not being required to do so. For several years, Roe held nonlegal
employment, some part-time, then graduated to full-time nonlegal work. Eventually, she
2 began to miss the challenges of the law and believed her mental health to be robust enough
to attempt a return to legal work. To ease herself back in, she began working in various
positions of legal assistant and office manager, and then began working as a paralegal. She
testified that she began her transition back into the law via positions in which she was not
responsible for final decision-making in cases to ensure her mental health was not negatively
impacted. After success with gradually increasing her responsibility and challenges in the
legal field, she began working full time as a law clerk, a position she still holds. Roe has not
engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.
¶5. On April 30, 2020, Roe petitioned this Court for an order reinstating her license to
practice law. She represents that she repaid the clients from her 2002 proceedings any
unearned fees and helped them find substitute counsel as applicable. She submitted to an
LJAP-approved psychiatrist, who noted that her depression was in full remission and noted
that she was high functioning. The social worker who facilitates Roe’s LJAP group also
wrote a letter indicating her belief that Roe was fit to return to the practice of law. She noted
that Roe’s depression had been in remission for a number of years and that she “support[s]
her efforts for reinstatement to the Mississippi Bar and ha[s] no reservations about her fitness
to practice law.”
¶6. Roe also submitted four letters of recommendation supporting her reinstatement, three
from attorneys who have known her for many years and one from her current employer. Her
current employer wrote in detail about Roe’s “exemplary” work as a law clerk and about her
honesty regarding her past mental health struggles. Her employer also noted that her position
3 as a law clerk allows her to keep up to date on legal issues. Her employer concluded that
“[n]o one working with her today in any capacity would ever know that [Roe] struggled with
depression in the past. She is not only extremely capable, she is exuberant, energetic and
personable. . . . As her supervisor and the person most familiar with her current capabilities,
I repeat, I strongly support her petition for reinstatement.” Further, Roe noted her
involvement in the community, including church and volunteer activities.
¶7. This Court ordered the Mississippi Bar to investigate and respond to the petition. The
Bar conducted its investigation, reviewing the information submitted by Roe and the medical
information, as well as taking Roe’s deposition. The Bar found that Roe was forthcoming
in both her petition and her deposition regarding the reasons behind her disciplinary
suspension and her disability inactive status. The Bar concluded that Roe is in compliance
with the requirements for reinstatement from disability inactive status. It noted that “[t]he
medical evidence and testimony submitted supports [sic] that [Roe] possesses the necessary
personal capacity to properly manage herself, her affairs or the affairs of others with the
integrity and competency requisite for the proper practice of law.”
ANALYSIS
¶8. This Court “has exclusive and inherent jurisdiction of matters pertaining to attorney
discipline [and] reinstatement[.]” Miss. R. Discipline 1(a); In re Reinstatement of Doe, 22
So. 3d at 264. This Court reviews petitions for reinstatement de novo. Doe, 22 So. 3d at
264.
4 ¶9. Rule 23 of the Mississippi Rules of Discipline2 governs the process for an attorney
seeking reinstatement to the Mississippi Bar following placement on disability inactive
status. Rule 23(b) provides that
Procedures for reinstatement of an attorney transferred to disability inactive status shall be, insofar as is applicable, the same as the procedure for reinstatement of an attorney following suspension upon disciplinary grounds. The petition for reinstatement shall be filed with the Clerk of the Court, and a copy shall be served upon the Bar, An investigatory fee of $1,000.00 shall be paid to the Bar in addition to any other sum due to the Bar. The petition shall include a status report from LJAP regarding the attorney’s treatment, monitoring, and compliance, In addition, the attorney shall obtain an examination by a medical expert approved by LJAP specifically addressing the removal of the attorney’s disability and include the report with the petition. The expense of the examination shall be borne by the attorney.
Miss. R. Discipline 23(b). After receiving the Bar’s investigation and recommendation, this
Court “may grant or deny the petition as circumstances and justice require.” Miss. R.
Discipline 23(c).
¶10. This Court need not look to the procedures for reinstatement on disciplinary grounds,
as they are not applicable, and Rule 23 states that they govern only insofar as applicable.
Doe, 22 So. 3d at 262 n.2 (“Because the Complaint Tribunal suspended Doe for 180 days,
Rule of Discipline 12, which applies only to suspensions of six months or more, is
inapplicable.”). Rule 12 governs disbarments, suspensions for six or more months, certain
felonies, and certain civil judgments, none of which apply to Roe. Id.; Miss. R. Discipline
12; Miss. R. Discipline 23. Further, Rule 12 specifically provides that “[r]einstatement to
2 When Roe was placed on disability inactive status, Rule 25 governed a petition for reinstatement from disability inactive status. In 2019, the procedure was amended and renumbered as Rule 23. Roe asserts that current Rule 23 governs her petition.
5 the practice of law following an attorney’s transfer to disability inactive status is governed
by Rule 23 of these Rules.” Miss. R. Discipline 12(c).
¶11. In compliance with Rule 23(b), Roe submitted a letter from the LJAP social worker
who leads her bimonthly therapy group supporting her reinstatement and noting that she has
attended the group regularly since 2003.3 Roe likewise submitted to an LJAP-approved
medical expert who addressed the removal of her disability by determining that Roe’s
depression was in “full remission” and that she was high functioning. The report noted that,
since 2013, she had been successfully taking Cymbalta to help manage her depression, and
that it may even be possible to lower her dosage.
¶12. In addition to the necessary documents, Roe submitted several letters of
recommendation from other attorneys who have known her for many years, who know of her
mental health situation, and who unequivocally and enthusiastically support her
reinstatement. Roe also submitted a lengthy letter of recommendation from her current
employer, for whom she has worked full time in a legal capacity since 2016. Her employer’s
recommendation details her work, expresses knowledge of her mental health condition, and
also unequivocally and enthusiastically supports her reinstatement.
¶13. Roe was also deposed by the Mississippi Bar. In her deposition, she was forthright
about the past disciplinary actions and her past mental health and personal struggles. Roe
detailed both her mental health history since 2002 and her employment history. She detailed
frequently and regularly seeking medical and mental health treatment for her mental health
3 The original order placing Roe on disability inactive status did not require LJAP monitoring or a contract, thus, compliance with any required terms is not applicable.
6 conditions, as well as trying various medicines. She detailed a slow, careful, and thoughtful
return to employment, first part time in a nonlegal field, then full time in a nonlegal field,
then moving to a legal office manager/assistant position, then moving to a paralegal position,
and last taking a position as a law clerk. Her employment history in the legal field for the last
several years has been exemplary. She has also been active in the community during this
time.
¶14. Overall, the record evinces that, since 2002, Roe has shown great dedication to
bettering and maintaining her mental health condition, great dedication to the legal field, and
thoughtful and deliberate consideration of how to merge those two areas without either area
suffering negative consequences. It indicates that her disability has been removed as her
depression is in remission and that she has become highly aware of her mental health and can
more easily recognize when to seek help before her mental health condition deteriorates. Roe
has also kept abreast of the law, using it for her employment as a law clerk, and she also
testified that she reads the Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals cases. The Bar
recommends her reinstatement.
CONCLUSION
¶15. Based on the evidence presented, this Court finds that Roe is in compliance with the
requirements for reinstatement from inactive disability status. Accordingly, we grant Roe’s
petition for reinstatement pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Discipline 23.
¶16. PETITION FOR REINSTATEMENT GRANTED.
RANDOLPH, C.J., KITCHENS, P.J., COLEMAN, MAXWELL, BEAM, CHAMBERLIN, ISHEE AND GRIFFIS, JJ., CONCUR.