Chatham's attorney keeps license

The State Bar used a wrong address for Kevin Whiteheart, who missed a deadline for filing a continuing education report

PITTSBORO -- Chatham County's new attorney kept his license Tuesday when the State Bar acknowledged it had sent letters notifying him of overdue fines to his old address.

Kevin Whiteheart had failed to pay $200 in fines for not reporting his continuing legal education hours on time.

The bar, however, sent letters notifying him of the fines and his suspension from the bar to his previous work address. As a result, Whiteheart was reinstated immediately after he proved he had not received the letters and paid the fines Tuesday. The suspension will not show up on his record.

Still, the county's former interim attorney, Jep Rose of the Poyner & Spruill law firm, said County Manager Charlie Horne asked him to serve as the county commissioners' legal counsel at a public hearing Tuesday night.

In an interview, Whiteheart said he did not know that Feb. 28 was the deadline for reporting continuing legal education hours to the bar.

"I don't specifically know what the deadline is, but I know I turned in my hours," said Whiteheart, who has practiced law for 19 years.

According to bar officials, they received Whiteheart's continuing legal education report May 4 -- two months after the deadline.

Whiteheart incurred a $75 late fee, said Alice Mine, assistant director of the bar. The bar sent him a letter in June, asking him to explain his tardiness.

When Whiteheart did not respond, he incurred an additional $125 fine, Mine said.

The bar sent a final letter to Whiteheart's old work address at the Lumberton City Attorney's Office in August. The letter said he had 30 days to pay the fine or he would be suspended, Mine said.

All practicing North Carolina lawyers must be registered with the bar, which handles licensing and disciplinary matters.

To be in good standing, attorneys must fulfill three requirements: pay their dues, complete 12 hours of continuing legal education each year, and report those hours by Feb. 28 of each year, Mine said.

To be reinstated, Whiteheart verified with an affidavit Tuesday that he was not employed at the Lumberton City Attorney's Office at the time he was served by the bar, Mine said.

Mine acknowledged that the bar sent the letters to the wrong address but said lawyers are responsible for notifying the bar of address changes.

A new position

The county commissioners hire and fire three employees: the manager, attorney and clerk. The commissioners created the county attorney staff position earlier this year.

Horne said county officials did not check Whiteheart's record with the bar when they hired him in May.

Whiteheart earns $93,000 a year.

Commissioners Chairman Carl Thompson said he is pleased with Whiteheart. "Kevin has done a good job," he said. "There are so many issues that require legal attention and so many changes the board has made in areas of planning and zoning."

Whiteheart served previously as an assistant county attorney in Guilford County, as a private practice attorney, and most recently as the city attorney for Lumberton.

He earned his law degree from Campbell University in 1988 and a business degree from Wake Forest University in 2002.

Public records policy

Whiteheart recently drafted a public records policy that some media law experts said could break the law.

Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities, an activist group in the county, wrote the commissioners a memo with nearly a dozen concerns about the draft policy, which states closed session minutes must be typed, reviewed and approved by commissioners before they can be released.

The state Supreme Court has said draft documents are public records. Whiteheart is working with CCEC member John Graybeal to revise the draft policy before the commissioners vote on it.

In June, Whiteheart withheld minutes from closed-session meetings where commissioners discussed a development moratorium on large subdivisions. Whiteheart said he would not release the minutes until the threat of a lawsuit had passed.

But the possibility of a lawsuit is not a legal basis for withholding the minutes.

Attorneys for The News & Observer challenged the county's decision, and two weeks later, the county released tapes of the meetings.