A panel for the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys is recommending a Lawrence attorney be disbarred, accusing him of practicing law while under suspension from the Kansas Supreme Court.

An attorney for Chris Miller disputes the panel’s findings, and the state Supreme Court justices will hear arguments in the case on May 11.

According to a report about a June 23, 2009, hearing in the matter, the three-attorney panel accuses Miller of not altering his conduct after he was suspended in December 2006. The Kansas Supreme Court had suspended Miller for two years for overbilling the Kansas Insurance Department.

Miller and Chris Cowger, a Topeka attorney at the time, had reached an agreement to have Cowger take over Miller’s practice, that included a high volume of workers’ compensation cases.

“(Miller) simply changed the signature line on letters and pleadings. (Miller) also hired Mr. Cowger to review and sign letters, review and sign pleadings, and make court appearances,” according to the hearing report.

The two sides also dispute whether Cowger or Miller owned the law practice in 2007 during Miller’s suspension.

Miller’s attorney, John Ambrosio, has taken exception to several of the findings made by the disciplinary panel of attorneys, Rex A. Sharp, Debra E. James and Scott J. Mann. The panel’s report is a recommendation while the Supreme Court makes a final determination in attorney disciplinary matters.

Ambrosio declined comment Thursday other than to say the two sides disagree about whether Miller was practicing law during his suspension.

Miller served as a past chairman of the Douglas County Republican Party, and his term ended in 2004.