An attorney is asking people, especially others in the profession, to fight back against the WBC/Phelps (the bunch that protests military funerals) by filing a bar complaint with Kansas. Below is what he's going to file, he's asking other lawyers to use it if they wish, but as a template only, not word for word. Sounds like a good idea to me since Phelps daughter's law firm is the church's legal arm and the church is their sole client. Course I ain't a lawyer so it may be just pizzing in the wind. ~Mergie

File a Bar Complaint

I've seen it frequently asked how someone can counter protest or stop the WBC. Most of you are aware that they troll funerals with the intent of inciting a response. The "Phelps-Chartered Firm" is the legal arm of the WBC, located in Kansas.

Here's how I think we stop it: file a bar complaint with Kansas and get Phelps-Chartered Firm attorneys suspended/disbarred. Take it from a lawyer, a bar complaint is serious business and must be responded to. This is not an issue of whether WBC may express their opinion (they're legally permitted to do so), but whether the attorneys participating in this scheme are acting professionally and ethically. I contend that they are not.

Step One:
Print out a complaint form and fill out the required information.

Step two:
The most important thing is to make proper allegations. Here's what I've come up with, feel free to submit or modify (Edit: I would honestly encourage everyone to do their own research and determine if there are any other rules which you believe the Phelps-Chartered Firm violates. My letter is a template, not meant to be copied en masse. If you find the firm's actions disparaging to the profession, inform Kansas of your opinion in your own way.):

This complaint is against members of the Phelps-Chartered Firm ("The Firm"), located in Kansas. Its members include, but are not limited to, Jonathan B. Phelps, Shirley Phelps Roper, Rachel I. Hockenbarger, Rebeka A. Phelps Davis, Margie J. Phelps. The Firm has violated the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct numerous times and continues to engage in acts which demean the legal profession.

The Firm is the exclusive counsel of the Westboro Baptist Church ("WBC"), with WBC providing the near-total source of work for The Firm. Every member of The Firm is a member of WBC. WBC is engaged in the practice of protesting high profile and military funerals throughout the United States with the purpose of inducing violent reaction against WBC members. The Firm is so closely involved with the operations of the WBC that it is an actual part of the WBC.

Members of The Firm have repeatedly violated Rule 8.4(http://www.kscourts.org/rules/Rule-I...Attorneys&r2=2) of the Kansas Rules of Professional conduct. Members of The Firm have represented their client (WBC) with the knowledge that their client's actions will likely lead to an attempted battery or assault. Members of The Firm have conducted this representation with actual or constructive knowledge that their client's actions will lead others to engage in criminal violence against WBC, in direct violation of 8.4(a).

The Firm provides actual and constructive support of WBC's actions, which adversely reflects on the The Firm and its members' fitness to practice law, in violation of Rule 8.4(g). In addition The Firm's actions violate the Kansas Bar Association's Hallmarks of Professionalism as The Firm diminishes respect for the role of the lawyer in society and fails to respect all persons, regardless of gender, race, or creed.

As stated in the Scope of the Kansas Rules of Professional conduct, "[t]he Rules do not, however, exhaust the moral and ethical considerations that should inform a lawyer, for no worthwhile human activity can be completely defined by legal rules. The Rules simply provide a framework for the ethical practice of law." Members of The Firm have acted unprofessionally, unethically and counseled their clients to induce others to violate the law. To permit their continued ability to practice law in Kansas would be a flagrant disregard of professional guidelines and would put the Kansas legal community into disrepute.

Step Three:
Mail this out to:

Office of the Disciplinary Administrator
701 Southwest Jackson, First Floor
Topeka, Kansas 66603

If you aren't a lawyer and wish to file - Please be respectful, articulate, and professional. Bar complaints are a serious business and the goal of this is not to inundate the Kansas Disciplinary Administrator with paperwork. The goal is to present reasonable arguments and public support as to why the Phelps-Chartered Firm should not be permitted to practice law in Kansas.

Just to be clear (because this has been a recurring point brought up): This is NOT an attempt to infringe WBC's free speech. If courts say the 1st Amendment permits them to protest funerals, so be it. I just find attorneys who protest funerals in this manner as unfit to have a license. This is not what attorneys should be known for and it is not how we should act. Model Rules of Professional Conduct exist in every US state and I believe that if this firm doesn't violate the letter of the law, it certainly violates the spirit of it.