Kathleen Kane

HARRISBURG — In less than a week, Attorney General Kathleen Kane will have her law license suspended indefinitely, but so far the state’s chief prosecutor hasn’t said what changes that will bring to the massive agency she heads.

Legal experts and former attorneys general say the state Supreme Court’s unprecedented decision to yank her license leaves a great deal unresolved about the role she will play or which official acts she can perform without violating rules against the unlicensed practice of law.

When it announced the suspension Sept. 21, the high court said explicitly that it was not removing her from the independently elected state office. It delayed the suspension 30 days, a common practice in cases of lawyer discipline, meaning it will begin on Thursday.

In the meantime, Kane has not spoken about where she will draw the line and what part of her job she will no longer do. Her spokesman said Thursday he could not provide any specifics and her personal attorney did not return a phone message.

Kane, a first-term Democrat, was charged in August with perjury, official oppression and other offenses for allegedly leaking secret grand jury material to a newspaper and lying about it. Prosecutors added another perjury charge and other counts earlier this month for allegedly lying about whether she had signed a grand jury secrecy oath.

She recently said the high court’s suspension of her law license will likely prevent her from seeking another term, if it’s still in place by the time of next year’s election.

“I try not to take sides on this, but I think it would be a good thing for the attorney general to articulate what she is doing in office,” said Bob Davis Jr., a Harrisburg lawyer who handles legal discipline cases and teaches ethics at Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

He said Kane probably could still perform management and administrative duties, and perhaps even assign lawyers and decide where to direct office resources.

Kane’s office has a wide array of duties that include prosecuting crimes, representing the state’s executive-branch agencies, pursuing civil litigation and running grand jury investigations.

Her name appears on court documents filed by the lawyers who work under her, and she has the final say when it comes to filing charges or filing suit.

“There’s a lot of things in there that require a legal analysis and advice and a decision made as a lawyer,” said Scranton attorney Ernie Preate Jr., who served as the state’s attorney general from 1989 until his 1995 federal guilty plea to a count of mail fraud.