Fairborn Attorney Indefinitely Suspended
2008-1198. Disciplinary Counsel v. Kelly, Slip Opinion No. 2009-Ohio-317.
On Certified Report by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, No. 07-059. Kristen Lynn Kelly, Attorney Registration No. 0064964, is indefinitely suspended from the practice of law in Ohio.
Moyer, C.J., and Lundberg Stratton, O'Connor, O'Donnell, Lanzinger, and Cupp, JJ., concur.
Pfeifer, J., dissents and would suspend respondent from the practice of law in Ohio for two years.
Opinion: http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2009/2009-Ohio-317.pdf 
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(Feb. 4, 2009) The law license of Fairborn attorney Kristen Lynn Kelly has been indefinitely suspended for professional misconduct.
In a per curiam decision announced today, the Supreme Court of Ohio adopted findings by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline that Kelly misappropriated funds from the Greene County Humane Society while serving as the society’s volunteer treasurer, and provided legal services to the humane society between 2000 and 2006, while Kelly was serving as a full-time magistrate for the Greene County Domestic Relations Court.
The Court noted that Kelly had served for many years as an unpaid advocate for abused and abandoned animals at considerable personal cost, and has since reimbursed the society for all of the missing funds. The Court held, however, that Kelly’s multiple acts of misappropriation and submission of multiple false financial reports to the humane society board, in violation of the state attorney discipline rules that prohibit conduct involving fraud, deceit, dishonesty or misrepresentation and conduct that reflects adversely on an attorney’s fitness to practice law, called for an indefinite license suspension.
The majority opinion was joined by Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer and Justices Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Maureen O’Connor, Terrence O’Donnell, Judith Ann Lanzinger and Robert R. Cupp. Justice Paul E. Pfeifer dissented, stating that he would impose a two-year license suspension as the appropriate sanction for Kelly’s misconduct.
Contacts
Jonathan Coughlan, 614.461.0256, for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Geoffrey Stern, 614.462.5400, for Kristen Lynn Kelly.