COMPLAINT

Jerome Larkin, Administrator of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, by his attorney, Wendy J. Muchman, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 753(b), complains of Respondent, Jeffery Luckett, who was licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois on November 10, 1994, and alleges that Respondent has engaged in the following conduct which tends to defeat the administration of justice or bring the courts or the legal profession into disrepute:

COUNT I
(Dishonest Billing Practices and Unreasonable Fees)

1. At all times alleged in this complaint, Respondent was a private attorney who is a member of the Juvenile Court Bar Attorney Program, ("the program") administered by the Chicago Bar Association, and in that capacity represented indigent respondents in juvenile justice and child protection matters.

2. Cook County compensates attorneys who participate in the program at set hourly "in court" and "out of court" rates. The attorneys receive authorization for their compensation by presenting to the respective trial judges fee petitions accompanied by affidavits attesting to the work they performed on specific dates. The presiding judges then review the petitions on the specific cases pending in their courtroom and grant orders to pay the attorney. The attorneys then present the orders and copies of their fee petitions to Clerk of the Cook County Board of Commissioners for approval. Once approved, the Cook County Treasurer issues payment to the attorneys.

3. In the first half of 2006, Respondent presented to the Clerk of the Board orders for payment totaling $350,000, representing services from June 2001 to June 2006. These billing statements included itemizations of the time Respondent purported to expend on various cases, the services purportedly provided on that case, and the applicable hourly rate. For various dates listed below, Respondent's statements sought payment for time exceeding twenty hours in a given day:

4. Respondent's billings submitted as described in paragraph 3 above were false and Respondent knew or should have known they were false, because he did not properly account for his time spent on the legal services indicated on those entries.

5. By reason of the conduct described above, Respondent has engaged in the following misconduct:

1. Charging and obtaining unreasonable fees, in violation of Rule 1.5(a) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct;

2. Making a false statement of fact to a tribunal which the lawyer knows or reasonable should know is false in violation of Rule 3.3(a)(1) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct;

3. Conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in violation of Rule 8.4(a)(4) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct;

4. Conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice, in violation of Rule 8.4(a)(5) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct; and

5. Conduct which tends to defeat the administration of justice or bring the courts or the legal profession into disrepute, in violation of Supreme Court Rule 770.

WHEREFORE, the Administrator requests that this matter be assigned to a panel of the Hearing Board, that a hearing be held, and that the panel make findings of fact, conclusions of fact and law, and a recommendation for such discipline as is warranted.