Opinion
Case No. 11-20425-7
03-12-2012
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. JON RYAN, Defendant.
ORDER SETTING DEADLINE FOR DEFENDANT TO OBTAIN LOCAL COUNSEL
On February 7, 2012, Defendant Jon Ryan was charged in a sixth superseding indictment with offenses relating to his alleged participation in a conspiracy to obtain various goods using fraudulent credit cards. Currently, Mr. John O'Leary of Columbia, South Carolina, is the only counsel of record for Defendant Ryan. The Eastern District of Michigan Local Rules provide that Defendant Ryan must also obtain local counsel:
Any member of the bar of this court who is not an active member of the State Bar of Michigan must not appear as attorney of record in any case without specifying on the record, as local counsel, a member of the bar of this court having an office within the district upon whom service of all papers may be made. Such local counsel must enter an appearance in the case and must have both the authority and responsibility for the conduct of the case should out-of-town counsel not respond to any order of the court for appearance or otherwise.E.D. Mich. LR 83.20(f). The court may, on application, "relieve an attorney who is not an active member of the State Bar of Michigan of the obligation to specify local counsel." Id. However, Mr. O'Leary has made no such request, nor does the court commonly grant relief from the local-counsel requirement absent extraordinary circumstances that do not seem present in this case. Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that Defendant is DIRECTED to obtain local counsel by March 22, 2012.
____________________________
ROBERT H. CLELAND
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing document was mailed to counsel of record on this date, March 12, 2012, by electronic and/or ordinary mail.
Lisa Wagner
Case Manager and Deputy Clerk