TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Supreme Court Friday ordered the suspension of a local attorney for a year and a half after a complaint was filed by the office of the Disciplinary Administrator.

In April of 2015, the court suspended Sam Kepfield’s license to practice law for one year for violating Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct. However, that action was suspended and he was placed on supervised probation for three years.

In May of 2018, a hearing panel convened after another complaint was filed. Before that, Kepfield stipulated to certain facts and rule violations against him in the complaint. The panel ruled that he had not violated any rules and continued the three years of probation.

The disciplinary administrator then filed a motion with the Kansas Supreme Court to revoke that probation.

It was found that Kepfield misled the attorney assigned to investigate his conduct. Kepfield led the investigating attorney to believe he deposited unearned fees from a client into a trust account. However, Kepfield did not have a trust account at the time. Accordingly, the hearing panel concluded that Kepfield was dishonest with the investigator.

The panel also indicated that Kepfield suffers from depression. The panel believes his depression may have been a contributing factor to the misconduct.

After going through all the facts of the case, the high court ordered Kepfield to serve the original one-year suspension and suspended him from practicing law for another three years. However, after six months of that suspension, he will again be placed on a three-year probation.