FARGO - The case of Howard O. Kieffer has forced federal courts to review their procedures for admitting lawyers to practice, one official says.

Kieffer is to be in a courtroom this week - 18 months after North Dakota's chief federal judge approved his application to practice law. He'll be a defendant.

Kieffer is charged in North Dakota with one count of mail fraud and one count of false statements in impersonating a lawyer. Court documents show he has worked on federal cases in at least 10 states, but North Dakota is the first state to prosecute him.

Mark Fredrickson, the attorney services coordinator for Colorado federal courts, said he could not comment specifically about the Kieffer case, but that it has forced districts to look more closely at rules for admitting lawyers.

"I think any of the 10 courts would tell you that," he said.

"I have not seen a case like this," federal prosecutor David Peterson said. He compared the allegations to the movie "Catch Me If You Can," the story of a con man who posed as an attorney, an airline pilot, a doctor and a professor.

Authorities said Kieffer was convicted of theft and filing false tax returns and served time in a federal prison from 1989 to 1992. He represented himself in filing two federal complaints against wardens while he was held in a Sandstone, Minn., prison from 1991 to 1992.

Kieffer was arrested earlier this month in Duluth, Minn., where authorities said he had a law office and was living with his wife and two children. He is scheduled for arraignment Monday in Bismarck before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles S. Miller.

Kieffer's lawyer, Joshua Sabert Lowther of Savannah, Ga., did not return phone calls seeking comment.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland disbarred Kieffer from federal court in North Dakota last month, after Kieffer admitted he is not a graduate of an accredited law school or a member of any state bar association.

Court documents show Kieffer was hired to work on cases in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri and Tennessee. Although he handled no cases in North Dakota, he allegedly used his so-called "good standing" in the state to apply to other federal districts.

Kieffer's federal case log includes a major criminal complaint in Colorado, where he unsuccessfully defended a woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to murder her son's father. A judge has not yet ruled on her motion for a mistrial due to an ineffective lawyer.

In his application to North Dakota, Kieffer said he had a degree from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., and had been admitted to practice federal law in the Central District of California. He listed his trial experience as a "sentencing and post-conviction specialist."

The name of the North Dakota lawyer who vouched for Kieffer has been blacked out of court documents.

Earlier this month, North Dakota federal officials eliminated a rule that required a federal court attorney to vouch for applicants. Kari Knudson, the chief deputy clerk of court, said the change was proposed before the Kieffer case was discovered and she was not sure what led to it.

Kieffer's petition to be admitted in Missouri was forwarded by Bruce Houdek, a Kansas City criminal defense attorney. Houdek told The Associated Press he got to know Kieffer through BOPWatch, Kieffer's Web site on prison and sentencing issues.

Houdek said he first met Kieffer at a seminar in Phoenix that the federal court system sponsored for court-appointed attorneys of indigent defendants. Kieffer moderated one of the small groups, Houdek said.

"I recognized his name from the Web site," Houdek said. "He seemed very knowledgeable, intelligent and up to date on federal sentencing issues."

Later, Houdek agreed to serve as a local attorney for Kieffer on a case in western Missouri. Houdek withdrew from the case when he found out that Kieffer had been disbarred in North Dakota.

Kieffer has lived in Duluth for the last two years, officials say. After his recent arrest, he was released on $25,000 bail.