Title: In re Shaw
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 105339
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: August 2, 2023

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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF KANSAS 
 
 
No. 105,339 
 
In the Matter of GILLIAN ROGERS SHAW 
f/k/a GILLIAN LUTTRELL, 
Petitioner. 
 
 
ORDER OF REINSTATEMENT  
 
 
On April 8, 2011, this court indefinitely suspended the Kansas law license of 
Gillian Luttrell, now known as Gillian Rogers Shaw. The court ordered that Shaw 
undergo a full reinstatement hearing prior to its consideration of any petition for 
reinstatement. See In re Luttrell, 292 Kan. 51, 252 P.3d 111 (2011); see also Supreme 
Court Rule 232 (2023 Kan. S. Ct. R. at 293) (procedure for reinstatement after attorney's 
indefinite suspension). 
 
On June 2, 2022, Shaw filed a petition for reinstatement under Rule 232(b). Upon 
finding sufficient time had passed for reconsideration of the suspension, the court 
remanded the matter for further investigation by the Office of the Disciplinary 
Administrator (ODA) and a reinstatement hearing. 
 
 
On March 9, 2023, a hearing panel of the Kansas Board for Discipline of 
Attorneys conducted a hearing on Shaw's petition for reinstatement. A month later, the 
court received the hearing panel's Reinstatement Final Hearing Report. In that report, the 
hearing panel recommends that the court grant Shaw's petition for reinstatement, subject 
to three years' probation under specific terms and conditions outlined in the parties' 
jointly proposed probation plan plus two additional terms and conditions suggested by the 
panel. 
 
 
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The court has adopted similar hearing panel recommendations for reinstatement to 
probation in the past. The court now determines, however, that the court should have 
been more precise in its terminology.  
 
 
Under Supreme Court Rule 227 (2023 Kan. S. Ct. R. at 283), the court places an 
active-licensed respondent on "probation" as a form of discipline upon finding the 
respondent committed misconduct that can be corrected by probation. What happens after 
that is governed by Rule 227(g) (procedure following the respondent's successful 
completion of probation) or Rule 227(i) (procedure upon an alleged violation of the terms 
of probation).  
 
 
In "reinstatement" proceedings under Rule 232, the court does not impose 
discipline; rather, it decides whether the court should reconsider the petitioner's 
suspension or disbarment based on various circumstances that have occurred (or have 
not) since the court suspended or disbarred the petitioner. See generally Rule 232(b)-(e) 
(outlining the initial procedures for reinstatement in this court). Where, as here, the court 
determines sufficient time has elapsed to justify reconsideration of an indefinite 
suspension order and receives the final report from the reinstatement hearing, it 
determines whether the petitioner has proven that the petitioner's fitness to practice law 
has been restored and that the factors outlined in Rule 232(e)(4) weigh in favor of 
reinstatement. If not, the court denies the petition for reinstatement. If so, the court grants 
the petition for reinstatement and reinstates the petitioner's license to practice law. And 
under Rule 232(h), the court "may order the [reinstated] attorney to comply with any 
condition or limitation on the attorney's practice" and "may also order that the attorney's 
practice be supervised for a period of time."  
 
 
Having clarified the procedure at issue, the court grants Shaw's petition and 
reinstates Shaw's Kansas law license. For a period of three years from the date of this 
 
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order, Shaw must comply with the following conditions and limitations on her practice, 
which we borrow from the parties' proposed probation plan and the final hearing report. 
 
Conditions and Limitations 
 
• Shaw must limit her law practice to criminal cases involving infractions, 
misdemeanors, felony levels 5-10, drug felony levels 3-5, domestic cases, and 
child in need of care cases. Shaw may modify these practice limits with the 
written approval of the ODA. 
 
• Shaw must maintain a daily updated inventory of all open cases and clients. 
The inventory must include the client's name, the client's contact information, 
the client's goal, the tasks that remain to be completed, all pending deadlines, 
and the forum (if any) in which the matter is pending.  
 
• Shaw must contact each client by letter at least once every three months 
concerning the status of the client's case. 
 
• Shaw must resolve all emails on a weekly basis in a case management system 
established with her supervising attorney. 
 
• Shaw must continue to cooperate with the ODA and timely provide any 
additional information requested by the ODA. 
 
• Shaw must obtain and maintain lawyer's professional responsibility insurance 
if she is actively practicing law. 
 
 
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• Shaw must follow the dictates of the Monitoring Agreement with KALAP that 
she entered on February 15, 2022. This includes following any 
recommendations made by her KALAP monitor and staff and participating in 
the KALAP resiliency group.  
 
• Shaw's practice must be supervised by an attorney who agrees to serve and 
who is mutually agreed upon by the ODA and Shaw. 
 
o Shaw must allow her supervising attorney complete, unrestricted access 
to her files, calendar, and other records and must comply with any 
requests made by the supervisor.  
 
o Shaw and her supervising attorney must meet weekly unless her 
supervisor determines their meetings may be at less frequent intervals. 
During these meetings, Shaw and her supervising attorney must: 
 
▪ review all new cases and establish a plan or course of action, 
including the identification of possible problems Shaw may face in 
dealing with difficult legal and client relation problems; and 
 
▪ review Shaw's schedule to ensure that notices have been sent to all 
appropriate parties, that deadlines have been met and carried out, 
that appropriate preparation has been carried out in advance of 
hearings, and that all updates to the file have been completed. 
 
o Shaw must follow all of her supervising attorney's recommendations, 
including the correction of any deficiencies outlined in the supervising 
attorney's monthly reports and quarterly audits. 
 
 
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o Shaw must include in each engagement agreement language notifying 
each client that her supervising attorney, who must be identified to the 
client, has authority to contact them throughout the pendency of 
representation to verify Shaw is complying with the conditions and 
limitations on her practice and the Kansas Rules of Professional 
Conduct. 
 
o Shaw must also ensure her supervising attorney has full access to review 
Shaw's business email account and notify her clients of the supervising 
attorney's access to her email as required by the Kansas Rules of 
Professional Conduct.  
 
• Shaw's supervising attorney's duties include the following: 
 
o prepare and submit to both Shaw and the ODA monthly reports 
concerning Shaw's compliance with these conditions of reinstatement;  
 
o audit Shaw's files every three months and provide a report of each audit 
to both Shaw and the ODA; and 
 
o determine whether Shaw's diary and billing procedures are appropriate.  
 
Disapproved Conditions  
 
 
The court disapproves of the following proposed conditions and does not impose 
them as conditions. 
 
• Probation plan ¶ 16:  "[Shaw's supervising attorney] shall be acting as an officer 
and agent of the Court while supervising the probation of Petitioner and during 
 
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the monitoring process of legal practice of Petitioner. [Shaw's supervising 
attorney] shall be afforded all immunities by Supreme Court Rule 223 during 
the course of this activity and pursuant to this Probation Plan." 
 
• Probation plan ¶ 26:  "Petitioner shall follow the dictates of Supreme Court 
Rule 227." 
 
• Hearing panel's recommendation:  "[Shaw must] address her outstanding debt 
collection accounts and judgments by paying a set percentage of the 
petitioner's income toward those accounts and judgments. The percentage 
amount should be determined by the probation supervisor and approved by the 
disciplinary administrator." 
 
 
The court issues the following additional directives. 
 
 
Supervising attorney's immunity:  Shaw's supervising attorney has absolute 
immunity from liability for any act within the scope of the attorney's duties in the same 
manner that an attorney has absolute immunity under Supreme Court Rule 238 (2023 
Kan. S. Ct. R. at 311) when supervising a respondent on diversion under Supreme Court 
Rule 212 (2023 Kan. S. Ct. R. at 264) or on probation under Rule 227.  
 
 
Release from the conditions and limitations on practice after three years:  If Shaw 
complies with each condition and limitation on her practice outlined above, at the end of 
the three-year supervisory period, Shaw may move the court to be discharged from any 
direct oversight by her supervising attorney or the ODA. Shaw must properly serve the 
motion on the ODA and include the following as attachments:  
 
• Shaw's affidavit describing her compliance with each of the conditions and 
limitations above; and  
 
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• an affidavit from Shaw's supervising attorney describing Shaw's compliance with 
the conditions and limitations.  
 
No later than 14 days after Shaw files such a motion, the ODA must file a response 
explaining whether Shaw has complied with the conditions and limitations on her 
practice and whether she should be discharged therefrom. 
 
 
Until the court releases her, Shaw remains obligated to comply with the conditions 
and limitations on her practice, except that the supervising attorney will be deemed 
released from the duties outlined in this order after the expiration of the three-year 
supervisory period unless the ODA moves to extend the supervisory period. 
 
 
Violation of a condition or limitation on practice:  Shaw must immediately notify 
her supervising attorney and the ODA of any noncompliance with any of the conditions 
and limitations on her practice outlined above. And again, Shaw's supervising attorney 
has a duty to immediately inform the ODA when the supervising attorney knows or 
reasonably believes that Shaw has failed to comply with any of the above conditions or 
limitations.  
 
 
Fees and continuing legal education:  The court further orders Shaw to pay all 
required reinstatement and registration fees to the Office of Judicial Administration 
(OJA) and to complete all continuing legal education (CLE) requirements. See Supreme 
Court Rule 812 (2023 Kan. S. Ct. R. at 609) (outlining CLE requirements following 
reinstatement). The court directs that once OJA receives proof of Shaw's completion of 
these conditions, OJA must add Shaw's name to the roster of attorneys actively engaged 
in the practice of law in Kansas. 
 
 
 
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The court orders the publication of this order in the official Kansas Reports and 
the assessment of all costs herein to Shaw. 
 
Dated this 2nd day of August 2023.