Hearing panel recommends informal admonition for Sarah Peterson Herr

TOPEKA—In a final hearing report final hearing report issued today, a three-judge hearing panel recommended Sarah Peterson Herr be informally admonished for violating Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct.

The hearing panel determined Herr violated Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct by misrepresenting the law and facts when she predicted via her personal Twitter account that an attorney appearing in a disciplinary hearing before the Kansas Supreme Court would be disbarred for seven years, without having a legal or factual basis for making such a prediction.

The panel determined the prediction also was prejudicial to the administration of justice and it represented professional misconduct to imply she had a degree of influence she did not have.

Herr was an employee of the Kansas Court of Appeals when she made the prediction Nov. 15, 2012.

In making its recommendation that she be informally admonished, the panel noted Herr had no prior disciplinary history, her motive was not dishonest or selfish, there was no pattern of misconduct, she publicly apologized for her conduct, she self-reported the possible violation, she cooperated with the investigation, and she has little experience practicing law.

The Kansas Supreme Court appointed the three-judge panel that included the Hon. Robert J. Fleming, who presided over the hearing, Hon. Edward Larson and Hon. Mary Thrower.