Jacksonville lawyer loses license over not following through on clients' cases

Duval County Courthouse

by Steve Patterson

A Jacksonville attorney has been disbarred after clients complained he abandoned their cases despite being paid to represent them.

Kenneth L. Spears, 34, had already been suspended from practicing law before the Florida Supreme Court stripped him of his license in July.

Spears hadn’t contested a report from a judge, called a referee, who examined reports from the Florida Bar about three clients who complained in 2018 and last year that Spears stopped communicating with them about their cases.

Two of the clients – a man who hired Spears to defend his company from a lawsuit and another man who needed help on an immigration issue – had already paid Spears a combined total of $3,500, the referee’s report said.

A third client complained that Spears was supposed to represent his family in a probate dispute but ignored messages left by phone, text or email after the client refused a settlement offer. The man said he sent Spears a certified letter, but the lawyer didn’t respond.

The referee’s report said Spears also didn’t respond when Bar investigators asked about the complaints, even hand-delivering a letter, or when a Supreme Court hearing was held on finding him in contempt for not answering.

The Supreme Court’s order said that Spears, who had been an attorney since 2011, should return the $3,500 he was paid and that he owed the Bar $2,055 that was spent investigating the complaints.

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Jacksonville lawyer loses license over not following through on clients' cases