Section 8 - Periodic Assessment of LawyersA. Requirement. Every lawyer admitted to practice before the court, unless excused on grounds of financial hardship pursuant to procedures established by the Attorney Disciplinary Board, shall pay to the board an annual fee to be set periodically by the court. The fee shall be used to defray the costs of disciplinary administration and enforcement under these rules, and for those other purposes the board shall periodically designate with the approval of the court. The fee shall be paid on or before July 1st of the fiscal year for which the fee is being paid. The annual fee shall be paid by attorneys according to the following schedule: (1) $235 for attorneys admitted to practice for three years or more, and(2) $170 for attorneys admitted to practice less than three years. No annual fee shall be collected for the fiscal year in which an attorney is first admitted to practice, nor from any attorney licensed for fifty (50) years or more.
B.Exemption of Judges. All justices and judges of the State and Federal Courts who have been licensed to practice law in Louisiana, but who are prohibited because of their judicial office from engaging in such practice, shall be exempt from payment of the fee during the time that they serve in office.C.Registration Statement. Each lawyer required by this rule to pay an annual fee shall, on or before July 1st of each year, file with the Louisiana State Bar Association a registration statement on a form approved by the Court. The lawyer shall include an office and residence address on the registration statement, and shall designate either his/her office or residence address as a primary registration statement address. The other address shall be designated as the lawyer's secondary address. The lawyer's primary registration statement address, and the secondary registration statement address, shall each be a physical address and not a post office box. A lawyer may choose either the primary or secondary registration statement address as his/her preferred mailing address, or may designate a third address for this purpose. Service of disciplinary process pursuant to these rules may be made at the lawyer's primary registration statement address. Service or proof of attempted service at the lawyer's primary registration statement address shall constitute adequate notice for purposes of these disciplinary rules. Each lawyer shall also include an office email address on the registration statement for service of process.
Each lawyer shall thereafter file with the Louisiana State Bar Association any change of physical address or office email address within thirty days of the change. Attorneys admitted to practice in the spring shall receive notice for filing the registration statement before July 1st of the year of admission. Attorneys admitted to practice in the fall shall receive notice for filing the registration statement before July 1st of their first full calendar year of admission.
The registration process mandated by these rules shall include provisions for the identification of all trust or escrow account information as required by Section 7(i), or certification that the lawyer does not maintain a trust or escrow account because of the nature of the lawyer's practice. If there has been no change in the trust account information previously identified, the lawyer shall certify that such information remains correct. Where a change has occurred in the trust or escrow account information previously submitted, the lawyer shall disclose that fact and submit the required trust or escrow account information on the approved form located in Appendix E of these rules. Each lawyer shall file with the Louisiana Bar Foundation and Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board any change or addition to trust or escrow account information within thirty (30) days of the change or addition.
D. Sanctions for Noncompliance. Any lawyer who fails to pay timely by July 1st the disciplinary enforcement and administration fee as required by subsection A of these rules and/or fails to file or supplement a registration statement or trust account information as required by subsection C of these rules shall be mailed, by first class mail, to the attorney's last-known primary address, a notice of delinquency and imminent certification of ineligibility to practice law. Any attorney who fails to comply with this notice by August 31st shall be assessed a $25.00 delinquency penalty. Any attorney who fails to comply with this notice by August 31st will be summarily certified ineligible to practice law.E.Effect of Certifications of Ineligibility. Certifications of ineligibility under this section will become effective in September of the year for which the fee is being paid and/or the registration statement is being filed. Certifications of ineligibility shall be effected through notice to the chief judges and clerks of court of all state courts and to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel indicating the lawyer's ineligibility to practice law in Louisiana. A lawyer certified ineligible to practice may thereafter apply for reinstatement only as indicated in this section.F.Reinstatement. Any lawyer certified ineligible to practice law under subsection D shall be reinstated if, within five years of the effective date of nonpayment of the disciplinary enforcement and administration fee and/or failure to file or timely supplement a registration statement, the attorney makes payment of all arrears and/or files the delinquent registration statement, pays the $25.00 delinquency penalty and pays an additional $25 reinstatement fee to the Disciplinary Board. Any lawyer who fails to make complete payments and/or fails to file delinquent registration statements within five years of the effective date of the certification of ineligibility for noncompliance with subsections A and C may, in the discretion of the court, be required to petition for reinstatement under Section 24 of this rule.Effective 3/13/2007; amended April 25, 2019, effective 5/15/2019; amended April 27, 2021, effective 7/1/2021.