The Ohio Supreme Court has handed down stayed suspensions to two education lawyers whose disciplinary case shed light on the ethical obligations of romantically involved attorneys.

The lawyers, Ashleigh Brie Kerr and Thomas Holmes, previously admitted that they shared emails with one another that included confidential client information and work product. The two are also engaged and live together in Aurora, Ohio. In a decision handed down on Thursday, the Ohio high court ruled that the couple's email exchanges violated the state's rules of professional conduct and that each deserved a six-month, stayed suspension.

The stayed sanction means, in effect, that neither will have to stop practicing law as long as they don't run afoul of legal ethics rules again, according to the Ohio Supreme Court. The high court's finding affirms the sanction that the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct previously recommended in the case.

Holmes and Kerr both practice a similar type of law—advising public school districts—but worked at separate firms and never shared any common clients, according to Thursday's ruling. Of the two, Kerr has been admitted to the bar for a shorter amount of time. Their ethics violations took place while Holmes was a lawyer at Day Ketterer in Hudson, Ohio, and while Kerr practiced at O'Toole McLaughlin Dooley & Pecora in Sheffield Village, Ohio.

“In general, Kerr forwarded to Holmes emails from her clients requesting legal documents. In response, Holmes forwarded to Kerr emails that he had exchanged with his clients which included similar documents he had prepared for them,” the Ohio high court wrote of the conduct that led to the disciplinary action. “Holmes and Kerr stipulated that in about one-third of these email exchanges, Holmes had ultimately completed Kerr's work for her.”

A lawyer for Holmes, Jonathan Coughlan, was not immediately available for comment on Thursday, while Kerr's lawyer, George Jonson of Montgomery Rennie Jonson, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Previously, the lawyers representing Kerr and Holmes in the disciplinary proceeding confirmed that both had left their prior law firms. In July, Coughlan said Holmes' departure was unrelated to the disciplinary case; he left Day Ketterer alongside two other colleagues, and they were in the process of joining a new firm.

In early August, an education law-focused firm in Toledo, Ohio, Peters Kalail & Markakis, announced that Holmes had joined that firm along with former Day Ketterer partners Maria Limbert Markakis and Albin Bauer II. As of Thursday, however, Holmes was not listed on that firm's online directory, though Markakis and Bauer are. The Supreme Court Of Ohio Attorney Directory identified Holmes Legal Services as Holmes' current firm. The directory did not identify any law firm associated with Kerr.

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