IN THE SUPREME COURT OF KANSAS

BEFORE
THE KANSAS BOARD FOR DISCIPLINE OF ATTORNEYS

IN THE MATTER OF )
)
) Case No. DA12581 and DA13174
JACQUELINE J. SPRADLING, )
Respondent. )
____________________________________)

ORDER

NOW on this 2nd day of December, 2020, the hearing panel enters this order regarding

hearing procedure and observation.

1. On November 12, 2020, the Shawnee County Health Department issued an

emergency order, limiting mass gatherings to 10 people. For additional guidance on the

meaning of the Shawnee County Health Department’s emergency order, Counsel for the

Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys contacted the Shawnee County Health Department

regarding the applicability of the mass gathering restrictions to trials and hearings. The Health

Department confirmed that tribunals in Shawnee County conducting trials and hearings are

required to comply with the limitation on mass gatherings to 10 people.

2. On December 1, 2020, the Kansas Supreme Court issued order 2020-PR-123 to

protect the health and safety of court users, staff, and judicial officers. Order 2020-PR-123

continues the Supreme Court’s previous order requiring compliance with any applicable order

or guidance from local public health officials. Order 2020-PR-123 also provides that “[a]ll courts

must determine how to provide public access to proceedings while maintaining physical

distancing and limiting the number of people in a courtroom.”

 3. To protect the health and safety of court users, staff, and judicial officers and to

comply with the Shawnee County Health Department emergency order and Supreme Court

Order 2020-PR-123, members of the public, including members of the media (hereinafter

“hearing observers”) may observe the hearing on the formal complaint in a virtual hearing

room via Zoom. To observe the hearing, a hearing observer must (1) request or obtain the

Zoom link to observe the proceedings and (2) agree to abide by this order, by email message to

Gayle Larkin, Counsel to the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys, glarkin@kscourts.org.

4. All hearing observers are prohibited from recording any portion of the hearing,

by video and/or audio recording, by any means.

5. The hearing is scheduled to begin on December 7, 2020, and is scheduled to

conclude December 11, 2020. Each hearing day will consist of a morning session and an

afternoon session.

6. On Monday, December 7, 2020, the morning session will begin at 9:30 a.m. The

Monday afternoon session and the morning and afternoon sessions for the rest of the week

will begin as announced from the bench at the close of the previous session.

7. In order to attend the session, a hearing observer must have agreed to abide by

this order by email, display their first and last name, and be in the waiting room at the time the

session is scheduled to begin. If more than one person is observing from the same device, they

must display the first and last names of each person observing from the device. If a hearing

observer will be observing by audio only, the hearing observer must be sure to change the

name displayed from the telephone number to the hearing observer’s first and last name.

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 8. A hearing observer may select which sessions to observe; to observe part of the

hearing, a hearing observer is not required to observe all hearing sessions. However, as

mentioned above, a hearing observer must be in the waiting room at the start of the session in

order to enter the virtual hearing room for that session. Counsel for the Kansas Board for

Discipline of Attorneys will not be providing start times for the hearing sessions to hearing

observers.

9. All observers must have their video stream turned off throughout the hearing.

10. All observers must have their audio stream muted throughout the hearing.

11. The Zoom chat feature and the Zoom reaction feature will be turned off

throughout the hearing.

12. If a hearing observer engages in disruptive conduct, the observer will be

removed from the virtual hearing room and will not be permitted to observe any subsequent

hearing sessions.

13. If a hearing observer is called as a witness, the witness will be asked to turn on

the video stream and the audio stream at the time they are called to testify.

14. If a witness did not agree to abide by this order as a hearing observer by email

message in advance of the hearing, the witness will remain in the waiting room until called to

testify.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

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