FORT WRIGHT, Ky. — Northern Kentucky defense attorney Ben Dusing has signed up for one more year in a war zone as he appeals a proposed three-year suspension of his law license.
That means Dusing will not resume the practice of law even if his appeal leads to a license reinstatement before September 2024. In fact, Dusing said he isn’t sure when or if he’ll ever resume his legal career.
“I will if that’s the best way that I can help people at that point in time,” Dusing said. “I’d like to. I like practicing law. I didn’t choose to stop, but I’m thankful that I was stopped.”
The Kentucky Supreme Court temporarily suspended Dusing’s license after the Kentucky Bar Association alleged he violated ethics rules by filing frivolous motions and threatening court officials while contesting custody decisions for the daughter of his ex-fiancee. The Bar Association sought a five-year suspension. But in February, a trial commissioner ruled a three-year suspension would be sufficient, with no credit for the 14 months he’d already served.
The Bar Association’s board of governors has yet to rule on the matter, which could also be appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court. In the meantime, Dusing is laying the groundwork for longer-term work as an aid runner.
“It’s like I was born to do this,” Dusing said. “These people will die. They will not eat. They will not get these services if people like us don’t do it. If I’m uniquely qualified to do it, how do I not?”
So Dusing is joining forces with Ukrainian Patriot, a Kyiv-based nonprofit that will pay him to manage its relief operations in the war-torn city of Kherson. The deal calls for Dusing to drive an ambulance and deliver supplies to war victims, while raising money for the effort in the U.S. and Ukraine.
“I’m seeing it as a development opportunity,” said Lana Niland, founder and CEO. “I see this as an extension of myself to be able to continue to develop Ukrainian Patriot in the way that it’s meant to move.”
Dusing previously sold real estate to finance his humanitarian efforts, raised $4,351 with a GoFundMe page and partnered with World Aid Runners, a New Mexico nonprofit that purchased an ambulance for his use last year. The new arrangement allows him to continue those efforts while drawing a stipend that brings him closer to breaking even.
“I’m not making any money,” Dusing said. “I mean, I’m making 10% of what I did and could make as a lawyer. When the war began, everybody volunteered there. But that model is broken. You can only do that for so long. So, funding these charitable locations like ours is really important.”
When he returns to Kherson, Dusing will find a city where fighting continues and residents are struggling to find clean drinking water after the June destruction of the Kakhova Dam.
“The defining characteristic of life in Kherson is all-encompassing, unrelenting serious danger without a break,” Dusing said. “It’s brave as long as we’re alive. The moment that we’re dead, it’s stupid. That’s the way these things work.”
Dusing has avoided serious injury on six trips to Ukraine so far. His closest call came in Bakhmut, when mortars landed on either side of him while he was 1,500 meters from active fighting.
“I’m in a large ambulance. It’s the middle of winter. I’m taking cover under a leafless tree,” he said. “And that was the moment where I leaned my head against the window and really thought, ‘That was it.’ I told my kids I would come back, and I was really upset that I was letting them down.”
And yet he feels compelled to face that danger again.
“There are folks that I know that say, ‘How can he do this? He’s a single father of four.’ You could easily get killed. Easily,” said Dusing. “I mean, I can stay home and tell my kids how to live. Or I can show them. And you know it is sacrificial for us, but this is what I want to teach them to do.”
