In re Van Note

469 P.3d 666 (Mem)

In the MATTER OF Susan Elizabeth VAN NOTE, Respondent.

Bar Docket No. 16327

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Dated this day of August 26, 2020.

ORDER OF DISBARMENT

In 2012, the Disciplinary Administrator initiated an investigation of the respondent Susan Elizabeth Van Note, an attorney admitted to the practice of law in the state of Kansas, after she was charged in Missouri with two counts of murder. That investigation resulted in the Disciplinary Administrator alleging the respondent committed professional misconduct in violation of Kansas Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4 (2020 Kan. S. Ct. R. 394).

On November 21, 2012, this court temporarily suspended respondent's license to practice law during the pendency of the disciplinary proceedings pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 203(b) (2011 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 280). Respondent's license remains temporarily suspended.

In 2017, a jury acquitted respondent of the murder charges. A wrongful death lawsuit also pending against the respondent was subsequently settled, and the Missouri Supreme Court disbarred the respondent from the practice of law in Missouri.

In a letter signed by the respondent on July 21, 2020, addressed to the Clerk of the Appellate Courts, the respondent voluntarily surrendered her license to practice law in Kansas pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 217(b) (2020 Kan. S. Ct. R. 263).

This court finds that the surrender of the respondent's license should be accepted and that the respondent...