Nebraska Supreme Court orders Bennington attorney disbarred for dodging federal income taxes

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday sustained a request to disbar a Bennington lawyer for dodging more than $400,000 in federal income taxes.

Thomas O. Campbell, who had been a practicing attorney since 2011, pleaded guilty in December to willfully filing false income tax returns from 2014 to 2018 that understated his income by $2.8 million. 

He was sentenced to serve one year and one day in federal prison and to pay $407,665 in restitution.

The U.S. District Court also ordered Campbell to be disbarred from practicing law in federal court.

Meanwhile, the Counsel for Discipline of the Nebraska Supreme Court also recommended that Campbell lose his license to practice law in Nebraska state courts for conduct that reflected poorly on attorneys and for conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.

Campbell’s lawyer, Clarence Mock, asked that a referee be appointed to review the discipline. Instead, the State Supreme Court allowed Mock and the Counsel for Discipline to provide additional arguments on the proposed disbarment.

Campbell maintained that due to a very busy law practice, he had lacked “time to address the business side of (his) practice,” and that other lawyers sentenced for tax fraud received probation. 

But the Supreme Court rejected any reconsideration of taking away his license to practice law.

The court, in a nine-page ruling, stated that generally, a finding of misconduct in one court is accepted as conclusive proof of guilt and not subject to relitigation in another court.

The judges said disbarment was appropriate given that Campbell had two prior private reprimands for misconduct and given the size and duration of the income tax violations.