NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans attorney Kemic Alan Smothers faces a fully-deferred suspension and probation following a recommendation issued Jan. 31 by a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee for allegedly providing legal services in 2014 while he was ineligible.
In its eight-page recommendation, LADB Hearing Committee No. 35 recommended Smothers receive a fully-deferred six months suspension and two years of probation in addition to being required to attend the Louisiana State Bar Association's ethics school. The committee also recommended Smothers be ordered to comply with annual registration and continuing legal education requirements.
Smothers is alleged to have provided general transactional and contract review, drafting and negotiation and other legal services to a New Orleans company in 2014 despite being ineligible to practice law in Louisiana. Smothers became ineligible to practice law in the state in May 2014 following a failure to comply with mandatory continuing legal education requirements, according to the recommendation.
The recommendation was signed Jan. 28 by committee Chair Pamela A. Stewart and was issued three days later. Attorney member Tyler G. Storms and public member C. Bennett Humphries concurred in the recommendation.
Smothers was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on Oct. 18, 2002, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. Smothers' profile does not include information about his ineligibility and lists his status as "eligible."
Smothers did not file an answer to the office of disciplinary counsel's formal charges against him, and in March the factual allegations were deemed admitted, according to the recommendation. The office of disciplinary counsel filed its submission on sanction in December.
Smothers' lack of a prior disciplinary record, lack of severe injury to his client and his "participation in the investigation through a detailed response and exhibits in November 2015," were considered mitigating factors in the committee's recommendation.