Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Rhode Island Supreme Court has suspended the licenses of 23 lawyers for their failure to pay bar association dues.

In an order dated May 29 but released Wednesday, the state's highest court said it was suspending the lawyers' licenses to practice because they had neglected to pay the required dues, which were due last July.

Victoria M. Almeida, president-elect of the Rhode Island Bar Association, asked the court at a May 28 hearing to take the action against the lawyers' licenses. None of the 23 showed up at the hearing to show cause why they shouldn't be suspended. The suspensions can be lifted if they pay what is owed.

The court listed the following lawyers as being suspended: Paul M. Basta, Robert G. Clark III, Richard G. Engelman Jr., Nancy Sholes Gillman, Loretta J. Holston, Linda E. Knight, Sarah Deasy Moriarty, Elizabeth A. Rychling, Jack J. Vultaggio, David J. Capobianco, Diana L. Daunis, Ralph N. Gaboury, Carol N. Glick, Ericka L. Hughes, Paul G. Manning Jr., Stephen P. Weir, Aline B. Carton, James P. Devlin, Brenda K. Gaynor, Kurt M. Hayes, Laurie B. Kirby, Suzanne M. McGrath and Sean M. O'Sullivan.

In April, the Supreme Court issued an order summoning 94 lawyers to appear at a May 28 hearing for their failure to pay the bar dues. But most of them paid up before the hearing so their licenses remain intact.

All lawyers who practice in Rhode Island are required to be members in good standing of the Rhode Island Bar Association. The dues are $200 per year for lawyers who have been licensed for more than five years and $115 per year for less senior lawyers. Each lawyer is also required to pay a mandatory $25 fee that goes into a client reimbursement fund (a fund that pays clients who are fleeced by lawyers). Dues are supposed to be paid by July 30 of each year. If a lawyer is three or more months overdue, he or she must pay a $25 late fee in addition to the amount owed.

All of the lawyers on the suspension list were sent three notices by the bar association warning them that they had to pay up or else they'd be suspended, according to Frederick Massie, spokesman for the bar association.

 Tags  lawyers RI Supreme Court

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