Suspended Lawyers Can't Represent Unemployment Comp Claimants
Litigants before the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review can hire just about anyone they want to represent them before the board, as long as that person is not an attorney whose license has been suspended, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.
April 03, 2017 at 10:02 AM
8 minute read
Litigants before the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review can hire just about anyone they want to represent them before the board, as long as that person is not an attorney whose license has been suspended, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.
A divided Supreme Court ruled March 28 that, despite language in the Unemployment Compensation Law saying litigants can be represented by either an attorney or “other representative,” those with suspended law licenses cannot represent people before the board. The decision in Powell v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review reverses a ruling from the Commonwealth Court, which had said that the board did not have the authority to bar suspended attorneys from representing litigants.
Writing for the majority, Justice Kevin Dougherty disagreed with the Commonwealth Court's holding that barring suspended attorneys from representing litigants infringed on the Supreme Court and the state Disciplinary Board's exclusive rights to enforce the rule that bans suspended attorneys from representing clients before any “adjudicative person or body.” He further said that suspended attorneys should be considered in a different category than nonattorneys.
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