In the Matter of Staci L. Kolb.
No. 2024-214-M.P.
Supreme Court of Rhode Island
October 10, 2025
Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Robinson, and Long, JJ.
Justice Lynch Prata did not participate.
This attorney disciplinary matter came before the Court pursuant to Article III, Rule 6(d) of the Supreme Court Rules of Disciplinary Procedure. On August 5, 2025, we received a decision issued by the Honorable Justice Netti C. Vogel (ret.), sitting as a hearing officer pursuant to Article III, Rule 4(c), finding that the respondent, Staci L. Kolb, had violated the Supreme Court Rules of Professional Conduct and recommending we publicly censure the respondent for her actions. Rule 6(d) provides:
“If the [Disciplinary] Board determines that a proceeding should be dismissed, or that it should be concluded by public censure, suspension or disbarment, it shall submit its findings and recommendations, together with the entire record, to this Court. This Court shall review the record and enter an appropriate order. Proceedings, if any, before this Court shall be conducted by [Disciplinary] Counsel.”
Both Disciplinary Counsel and respondent indicated they accepted the hearing officer‘s decision. Having reviewed the entire record before us, we concur with the hearing officer‘s decision that respondent violated the Rules of Professional Conduct and should be publicly censured.
In 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013, respondent was removed from the Court‘s master roll of attorneys for her failure to file an annual registration statement with the Court and pay the Court‘s annual registration fee and Rhode Island Bar Association (RIBA) dues, all of which are requirements of maintaining a license to practice law in this state. On each of those occasions, this Court reinstated her to the master roll after she filed a registration statement and submitted the required payments and late fees.
In 2016, respondent again failed to file her annual registration statement and pay the required fees. This Court sent respondent eleven notices both by email and regular mail reminding her that she had failed to file her annual registration statement. The Court again removed respondent from the master roll, and respondent did not seek reinstatement until December 15, 2021.
In December 2019, respondent joined a local firm as a part-time associate, despite being removed from the master roll since July 2016. The respondent
On November 29, 2021, respondent applied for a full-time staff attorney position with the Rhode Island Supreme Court and included a resumé wherein she described herself as an attorney with the firm from 2019 to present and as being admitted to the Rhode Island bar. To vet respondent‘s application, a member of the Court‘s staff checked the relevant Court records to confirm respondent‘s bar status and learned that respondent had been removed from the master roll in 2016 and was administratively suspended. On February 8, 2022, Disciplinary Counsel wrote to respondent advising her that she had been “actively practicing law since [her] license has been on inactive status since 2016” in violation of certain Rules of Professional Conduct and applicable statutes. After receiving the February 8, 2022 letter from Disciplinary Counsel, respondent withdrew from the law firm and stopped practicing law.
On June 21, 2022, Disciplinary Counsel filed a disciplinary complaint (2022 complaint) against respondent for the unauthorized practice of law. The gravamen of the 2022 complaint was the charge that respondent engaged in the unauthorized practice of law when she resumed her law practice more than three years after she
Thereafter, Disciplinary Counsel obtained emails which were inconsistent with the assertions respondent had made in her mitigation statement that she had
On March 6, 2023, Disciplinary Counsel filed a second disciplinary complaint (2023 complaint), which is now before us, against respondent asserting that respondent‘s failure to disclose the above-described emails constituted a violation of Rules 8.1(a) and (b) and 8.4(a) and (c) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. In reviewing this matter, the hearing officer found that respondent had actual and sufficient notice from the Court that her license was administratively suspended in 2016. Additionally, she should have realized that she had been removed from the master roll when she failed to submit her annual registration statements, Supreme Court fees, and dues each year in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
The hearing officer further found that emails between the firm administrator and respondent demonstrate that respondent had actual notice that the Court was requiring the payment of the 2020 annual fees and bar dues by September 2020, despite the pandemic. The email from the firm administrator on August 25, 2021, which contained the registration email from the then-Clerk of the Court,
In her report and recommendation, the hearing officer stated that respondent misled the Disciplinary Board when she withheld evidence of her emails with the firm administrator. Although it certainly is possible that respondent withheld such evidence in a misguided effort to limit responsibility for her misconduct, her failure to reveal the emails is also consistent with her inexplicable failure to accept and address her licensing requirements.
Regardless of her underlying motivation, respondent was less than candid toward the Disciplinary Board when responding to the 2022 complaint. The respondent expressed great remorse for her misconduct, both as to her inexplicable failure to meet her licensing obligations and as to her lack of candor when confronted with the 2022 complaint. The hearing officer accepted these statements of remorse as heartfelt and true.
The hearing officer believed that withholding evidence from the Disciplinary Board likely resulted in a lesser sanction in the disposition of the 2022 complaint than respondent otherwise would have received. The respondent‘s application for
Based upon the foregoing, the hearing officer found that respondent violated Rules 8.1(a) and (b) and 8.4(a) and (c) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 8.1 provides:
“An applicant for admission to the bar, or a lawyer in connection with a bar admission application, a disciplinary matter, or a continuing legal education matter, shall not:
“(a) knowingly make false statement of material fact; or
“(b) fail to disclose a fact necessary to correct a misapprehension known by the person to have arisen in the matter, or knowingly fail to respond to a lawful demand for information from an admissions, disciplinary, or continuing legal education authority, except that this rule does not require disclosure of information otherwise protected by Rule 1.6”2 R. Prof. Conduct 8.1.
Commentary 1 to Rule 8.1 states that “[t]he duty imposed by this Rule applies to a lawyer‘s own admission or discipline as well as that of others. Thus, it is a separate professional offense for a lawyer to knowingly make a misrepresentation or omission in connection with a disciplinary investigation of the lawyer‘s own conduct.”
Rule 8.4 provides, in pertinent part:
“It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:
“(a) violate or attempt to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct, knowingly assist or induce another to do so, or do so through the acts of another; “* * *
“(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation[.]” R. Prof. Conduct 8.4.
Specifically, the hearing officer found that respondent made false statements to the Disciplinary Board in defending the 2022 complaint in violation of Rule 8.1(a). Contrary to her stated belief, respondent had actual notice that licensed attorneys were required to pay their annual fees and dues for 2020 by September 2020 and for 2021 by September 2021. She knowingly omitted material facts from the record in connection with the disciplinary investigation of her conduct in violation of Rule 8.1(b). As a result of her violation of Rules 8.1(a) and (c), respondent violated Rule 8.4(a). The hearing officer also found that, in withholding evidence of the emails and email notice from the then-Clerk of Court, respondent violated Rule 8.4(c) by acting with lack of candor.
Having found that respondent‘s conduct constituted a violation of Rules 8.1(a) and (b) and 8.4(a) and (c), the hearing officer next turned to the issue of the appropriate sanction to recommend to the Court. “In fashioning an appropriate sanction, the [hearing officer] and this Court are cognizant that the purposes of professional discipline are to protect the public and to maintain the integrity of the
The respondent violated her duty of candor to the Disciplinary Board during the investigation of a disciplinary complaint filed against her. “The duty of candor * * * is the foundation of a lawyer‘s profession.” In re McKenna, 110 A.3d 1126, 1148 (R.I. 2015).
In In re Mosca, 686 A.2d 927 (R.I. 1996), the Court ordered the suspension of an attorney who had failed to deposit clients’ funds in a separate account and failed to make timely distribution of those funds when required to do so. In re Mosca, 686 A.2d at 928-30. The Court noted:
“[I]t is respondent‘s conduct when confronted with these disciplinary complaints that this [C]ourt finds most egregious. Attorneys admitted to the practice of law in this State have an affirmative obligation to cooperate with disciplinary authorities when a disciplinary complaint is lodged against them. Rule 8.1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct makes it clear that it constitutes professional misconduct for a lawyer in a disciplinary proceeding to fail to respond to a disciplinary complaint or knowingly to make a false statement of material fact in responding to such a complaint.” Id. at 930.
In another case, the Court found that suspension was warranted where a respondent not only made false statements on his bar application but then gave “less
The hearing officer noted that in other cases involving a respondent‘s misrepresentations, the Court imposed a public censure rather than suspension as the appropriate sanction. In one case, an out-of-state attorney filed a false affidavit about his own credentials when he sought to appear pro hac vice in a Rhode Island Superior Court case. In re Levine, 840 A.2d 1098, 1098-99 (R.I. 2003). The Court noted that “[h]e acknowledged that this was wrong and has expressed his sincere remorse for this misrepresentation.” Id. at 1099. The Court reached the same conclusion in deciding In re Fisher, 175 A.3d 490 (R.I. 2018) (mem.). In that case, the respondent had engaged in a pattern of misconduct where he signed his client‘s name to foreclosure deeds and notarized his own false signature. In re Fisher, 175 A.3d at 490-91. In choosing public censure as an appropriate sanction, the Court referenced his “lengthy, unblemished history, coupled with his heartfelt remorse * * *.” Id. at 492. In another case, In re McAteer, 183 A.3d 1133 (R.I. 2018) (mem.), the respondent represented to the Superior Court in oral argument that his client was entitled to receive the return of a real estate deposit from a defaulted defendant after the client had already received that payment in a settlement with a co-defendant. In re McAteer, 183 A.3d at 1134. In imposing the sanction of public censure, the Court considered the respondent‘s sincere remorse, unblemished professional history and
Because respondent‘s misconduct in this case involves lack of candor in responding to a disciplinary complaint, her misconduct might justify a suspension rather than a public censure. However, each disciplinary case must be decided on its own facts, and the facts in this case are unique. The issues that prevented the respondent from acknowledging and addressing her bar status do not appear to have carried over to her practice of law. By all accounts, throughout her legal career, respondent consistently provided her clients with competent, prompt, and diligent representation. See R. Prof. Conduct 1.1, 1.3. The evidence is undisputed that respondent enjoyed a fine reputation in the legal community and with the clients whom she represented. The respondent‘s excellent performance as an attorney is inconsistent with her disregard for the requirements of maintaining her law license. It certainly was not a predictor of the misconduct that constitutes the subject matter of this case. Her situation is distinguishable from situations in which an attorney converted clients’ funds to his or her own use or committed financial fraud. See, e.g., In re Ricci, 735 A.2d 203, 208 (R.I. 1999); In re Hodge, 676 A.2d 1362, 1363 (R.I. 1996); In re Krause, 676 A.2d 1340, 1342 (R.I. 1996).
In her conclusion, the hearing officer stated that she had great difficulty reconciling the overwhelming weight of evidence that respondent must have known that she had been removed from the master roll with her application to fill an attorney position with the Court.
The hearing officer found that respondent made sincere expressions of great remorse and shame for her misconduct. In her preliminary statement, respondent described this incident as “the worst and most serious mistake of [her] entire life.” She added that she “think[s] of it every day and [she is] completely ashamed of [her] conduct and inactions.” Of significance, the hearing officer was mindful that
The Court accepts the hearing officer‘s findings and conclusions of law and adopts the hearing officer‘s thoughtful, thorough, and well-written decision.
The respondent is hereby publicly censured.
Entered as an Order of this Court this 10th day of October 2025.
By Order,
/s/ Meredith A. Benoit
Clerk
Justice Lynch Prata did not participate.
SUPREME COURT – CLERK‘S OFFICE
Licht Judicial Complex
250 Benefit Street
Providence, RI 02903
ORDER COVER SHEET
| Title of Case | In the Matter of Staci L. Kolb. |
| Case Number | No. 2024-214-M.P. |
| Date Order Filed | October 10, 2025 |
| Justices | Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Robinson, and Long, JJ. |
| Source of Appeal | N/A |
| Judicial Officer from Lower Court | N/A |
| Attorney(s) on Appeal |
For Petitioner: Kerry Travers, Esq. Maria R. Lenz, Esq. Office of Disciplinary Counsel For Respondent: Peter A. DiBiase, Esq. Neil P. Philbin, Esq. |
SU-CMS-02B (revised November 2022)