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HomeNewsArchivesRUTNIK WANTS UNLICENSED LAWYERS PROSECUTED

RUTNIK WANTS UNLICENSED LAWYERS PROSECUTED

April 18, 2001 – Licensing and Consumer Affairs has filed "cease and desist" orders barring several local attorneys from practicing law in the territory because they are years behind in licensing requirements.
Meanwhile, the V.I. Bar Association has asked the Territorial Court and District Court to suspend the privileges of some attorneys who are delinquent in association dues.
Andrew Rutnik, commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, released the names of four attorneys he has taken action against since January: Edward Parson, Winston Taylor, Kenth Rogers and Mario Bryan. He has asked the V.I. Justice Department to prosecute the cases and has notified the courts that the individuals are not licensed to practice.
Rutnik said the department has cases pending from previous years, too. "About eight out there" have made it to the prosecution stage, he said, and many more are on payment plans. "It's pretty amazing how many lawyers are way behind" in licensing payments,he said.
Ronald Russell, president of the V.I. Bar Association, would not name the attorneys against whom suspensions are pending, but he said some of them also ran afoul of Licensing.
The annual license fee is $500, and the penalty for failure to pay it is $100 a month. Annual V.I. bar dues are $125.
Some of the license delinquencies apparently go back to the dispute between the government and many private attorneys over license requirements. Some argued that business license fee should be levied against law firms, not individual lawyers. The case made it the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which found in favor of the government and said individuals must pay.
With delinquencies and penalties going back many years, some lawyers have a hefty debt to the government.
But Rutnik suggested that in many cases the $500 fee is not a factor in the failure to renew a license.
"Usually it's motivated by IRB problems," he said. To get a business license, an applicant must have a tax clearance letter from the Internal Revenue Bureau stating he or she is current on tax payments.
Licensing works with the courts not only in seeking cooperation in barring unlicensed attorneys from practicing but also, in some instances, using the courts effectively to garnish a lawyer's earnings. Rutnik cited an instance in which an attorney won a large case and a $400,000 fee, then had to share the proceeds with IRB and Licensing.
The department is still working on getting the Territorial Court involved, Rutnik said, but "District Court judges are listening to us."
Russell said the Bar Association has "a congenial understanding with Licensing. We support Commissioner Rutnik in enforcing the law."
Attorney General Iver Stridiron could not be reached Wednesday for comment on the V.I. Justice Department's progress on Rutnik's request for prosecution.

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