ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 14, 1997 TAG: 9702140036
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
A Pulaski County lawyer reprimanded by the Virginia State Bar says he may file a federal lawsuit against it to keep it from interfering with his business.
James L. Tucker said one reprimand contended that he failed to provide a copy of a former client's bankruptcy file case. The client said she needed the copy for the Department of Motor Vehicles to keep her driver's license from being suspended.
Tucker said he had completed a 230-page bankruptcy document for her, traveled to Richmond to represent her at a hearing, and has still not been paid for any of his work on her behalf. When she wanted the copy of her file, he said, he asked her for $10.90 to cover part of the copying costs first.
The other reprimand claimed that Tucker failed to appear before the bar on a separate matter after being subpoenaed. Tucker said that he and his attorney both appeared at the hearing in question. It was a preliminary motion earlier in the day at which he did not appear, he said, and he was not required to do so.
If the first reprimand is allowed to stand, Tucker contends, lawyers may hesitate to take clients on a promise to pay and might start demanding their fees in advance. This would deny representation to clients unable to pay the full fees immediately, and encourage deadbeats to try to intimidate their lawyers with complaints to the bar, he said.
Tucker said he has practiced law for 30 years and he and the state bar began "locking horns" over various philosophical differences, dating back to complaints against him for flying his "ancestral" Confederate flag and other "politically-incorrect actions" on his part.
He said he would not be intimidated by the "bureaucrats" of the bar and would continue flying his flag. He said the bar has gone beyond its original purpose of ethics enforcement and now interferes with lawyer's everyday practices.
A bar spokeswoman said last week that the agency is studying three more complaints against Tucker.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB