Danish lawyer Morten Hemmingsen loses right to practise under section 137

The right of the attorney Morten Hemmingsen, a law graduate based in Haderslev, to carry on legal practice lapsed on 11 August 2026 under section 137 of the Danish Administration of Justice Act (retsplejeloven § 137). The lapse is recorded in Statstidende of 27 October 2026, in the “Diverse · Afskedigelser og udnævnelser” category of section I, under reference S23102026-188. The notice states the fact and the date and nothing else: no ground, no court, no supervisory authority and no case number.

Statstidende is the official gazette in which Danish legal announcements, including changes to the standing of practising lawyers, are published. The “Afskedigelser og udnævnelser” category is the standard channel for recording appointments, deposits and lapses affecting the profession, and it mixes routine career movements with events that carry immediate consequences for clients. The same issue of 27 October 2026 carried two fresh appointments in that category, Steffen Berwald Andersen of Aarhus and Victoria Dreier Hifling Petersen of Frederiksberg, both made by Justitsministeren on 23 October 2026.

The Hemmingsen item consists of a single sentence followed by the name, the title cand.jur. and the town — the format used for every entry in the category. It fixes the effective date at 11 August 2026, more than eleven weeks before the announcement reached the gazette on 27 October. Anyone consulting the gazette rather than the professional roll therefore learned of the change only in late October.

A formula that stands apart from deposit and return

The sentence reads, in full: “Nedennævntes ret til at udøve advokatvirksomhed er den 11.08.2026 bortfaldet i medfør af retsplejelovens § 137” — the right of the person named below to practise law lapsed on 11 August 2026 pursuant to section 137 of the Administration of Justice Act. The gazette supplies no accompanying narrative, and the notice does not indicate whether the lapse followed a request, a court decision or another event provided for in that provision.

Most changes to a lawyer’s standing in the same period are recorded in quite different language. In Statstidende issues published between 25 August and 27 October 2026, the formula “deponeret i Civilstyrelsen” — the authorisation deposited with the Civilstyrelsen — appears in about 60 announcements, while others record an authorisation “udleveret efter anmodning”, handed back at the lawyer’s own request. Recent examples show how much detail those entries carry:

• Lars Fredslund of Randers, whose authorisation of 2 January 1991 was deposited with effect from 1 October 2026, with his engagement as a beneficed lawyer at Retten i Randers lapsing at the same time.
• Elisabeth Nymann Eriksen of Nykøbing Falster, whose authorisation of 5 February 1987 was deposited from 1 October 2026, with her engagement as authorised estate administrator at Retten i Nykøbing Falster lapsing.
• Charlotte Kjærgaard of Ringe, relieved of her beneficium at Retten i Svendborg with effect from 1 January 2027.

Silence on files, successors and counterparties

Each of those notices resolves the practical questions on its face: which appointment falls away, at which court, from which date. The section 137 notice resolves none of them, and its silence is the substantive point for anyone dealing with the Hemmingsen practice. Three consequences follow directly from the text as published:

• No successor, trustee or receiving lawyer is named, and the notice gives no instruction for retrieving files or contacting the practice.
• No list of affected proceedings is attached, so counterparties in cases handled from Haderslev cannot identify them from the gazette entry alone.
• The eleven-week interval between 11 August and 27 October means that correspondence addressed to the practice during that window was sent without any public indication that the practising right had ended.

The announcement also offers no indication of any appeal, review or subsequent reinstatement, and nothing in the gazette wording suggests the decision is provisional.

Why one line matters

Announcements in this category are usually read as a register of careers — a new appointment, a retirement, a beneficium given up at the turn of a year. The entry on Morten Hemmingsen is of a different order. It is the sole public trace in Statstidende that an attorney who practised in Haderslev has lost the right to act, and it was published without the explanatory apparatus that normally accompanies a change of that kind. Clients, opposing parties and courts that rely on the gazette as their warning system have only the bare sentence, the date and the reference S23102026-188 to work from.

Source: Statstidende, no. S23102026-188, 27 October 2026, section I, “Diverse · Afskedigelser og udnævnelser” (official reference: S23102026-188).