Opinion
A22-0773
12-12-2023
IN RE Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST Kenneth E. KEATE, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 0054173.
ORDER
On October 19, 2022, we suspended respondent Kenneth Keate for a minimum of 45 days, effective November 2, 2022. In re Keate, 980 N.W.2d 814, 814 (Minn. 2022) (order). We stated that by October 19, 2023, Keate was required to file proof of his successful completion of the written examination required for admission to the practice of law by the State Board of Law Examiners on the subject of professional responsibility and that failure to do so would result in automatic suspension, as provided in Rule 18(e)(3), Rules on Lawyers Professional Responsibility (RLPR). Keate, 980 N.W.2d at 814–15.
We conditionally reinstated Keate on February 22, 2023. In re Keate, 986 N.W.2d 1, 1 (Minn. 2023) (order). Our order reinstating Keate repeated the requirement from our earlier order regarding the deadline for filing proof of successful completion of the professional-responsibility portion of the state bar examination. Id. We again stated that failure to do so would result in automatic suspension, pending successful completion of the examination, as provided in Rule 18(e)(3), RLPR. Keate, 986 N.W.2d at 1.
Rule 18(e)(3), RLPR, provides that, unless waived by this court, a lawyer who has been suspended for 90 days or less "must, within one year from the date of the suspension order, successfully complete such written examination as may be required for admission to the practice of law by the State Board of Law Examiners on the subject of professional responsibility." The professional-responsibility examination referred to in Rule 18(e)(3) is the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). See Rule 4.A(5), Rules for Admission to the Bar. "Except upon motion and for good cause shown, failure to successfully complete this examination shall result in automatic suspension of the lawyer effective one year after the date of the original suspension order." Rule 18(e)(3), RLPR.
We have routinely denied attorneys’ requests for additional time to provide proof of passing the MPRE and instead have suspended the attorney. In re Kennedy, 919 N.W.2d 332, 332-33 (Minn. 2018) (order) (denying motion and suspending attorney who was unable to take March 2018 MPRE due to health reasons and professional obligations and took but did not receive a passing score on the August 2018 MPRE); In re Nwaneri, 912 N.W.2d 882, 882–84 (Minn. 2018) (order) (denying motion and suspending attorney who failed the MPRE twice and claimed he was unable to adequately prepare for the second exam because of pressing family obligations that required him to travel out of the county and the demands of his practice); In re McCormick, 837 N.W.2d 493, 494–95 (Minn. 2013) (order) (denying motion and suspending an attorney who failed the MPRE and said he failed because he was ill on the day of the exam); In re Ruhland, 833 N.W.2d 401, 401 (Minn. 2013) (order) (denying motion and suspending attorney who waited too long to register and said caring for his aging parents contributed to his failure to timely register).
Keate did not file proof of successful completion of the MPRE by October 19, 2023. As a result, we issued an order di- recting Keate to show cause why he should not be suspended pending his successful completion of the MPRE. In re Keate, No. A22-0773, Order at 1–2 (Minn. filed Oct. 23, 2023).
Keate filed an affidavit in response to the order to show cause. In it, Keate states that he signed up to take the August 9, 2023 MPRE but was not allowed to sit for this exam because he did not bring the required identification. Keate then took the November 3, 2023 exam. Keate asks for an extension until December 15, 2023, to file proof of passing the MPRE.
The Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility did not file a response to Keate’s request for additional time to file proof of passing the MPRE.
Keate’s request for additional time to take the MPRE is procedurally deficient. It was not made in a motion, as Rule 18(e)(3), RLPR requires. In addition, even if we construe this request as a motion, it is substantively deficient. Keate has not established good cause for his failure to pass the MPRE by October 19, 2023. He could have taken the March 2023 MPRE but appeal’s to have made no attempt to do so. And Keate’s reason for not taking the August 2023 MPRE amounts, at best, to gross negligence on his part and not good cause.
Based upon all the files, records, and proceedings herein,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1. The request of respondent Kenneth E. Keate for an extension of time to file proof that he passed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination is denied.
2. Respondent’s conditional reinstatement is revoked and he is indefinitely suspended, effective 14 days from the date of this order.
3. Respondent shall comply with Rule 26, RLPR (requiring notice of suspension to clients, opposing counsel, and tribunals).
4. Respondent may apply for reinstatement under Rule 18(f), RLPR, by filing with the Clerk of the Appellate Courts and serving upon the Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility proof that he has successfully completed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ Margaret H. Chutich
Margaret H. Chutich
Associate Justice