Forging a judge's signature on a fraudulent order brought disbarment for Abilene personal injury attorney Majd Ghanayem, one of the 22 lawyers whose sanctions were released publicly on Wednesday.

Aside from Ghanayem, 21 other attorneys who were disciplined for professional misconduct are included on the latest disciplinary actions list by the State Bar of Texas Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel. They faced 26 total sanctions—two lawyers got multiples—including one disbarment, nine suspension, three public reprimands and 13 private reprimands.

Ghanayem got three law license suspensions for misconduct with other clients, too, but his most severe sanction—disbarment—came from his 2015 representation of a woman in an action for involuntary relinquishment of parental rights against the biological father of her son.

Ghanayem neglected the matter and didn't file the petition until 2017. He also was dishonest by misrepresenting the matter to the client and giving her "a fraudulent order and forged signature of a judge," the judgment of disbarment said.

That wasn't the only fraudulent document that came from Ghanayem. The judgment in one of Ghanayem's suspensions, for neglecting a divorce case, said he submitted a fabricated email to the Texas Bar when he responded to the grievance.

Financial mismanagement was at play in two other suspensions. One judgment said Ghanayem, who didn't return a call or email seeking comment before deadline, received a client's funds but failed to notify her or give her the money promptly. Another judgment said Ghanayem went against a client's choice about settlement, settled the case without consent, submitted her forged signature to the insurance company, and then failed to notify the client or deliver the funds to her promptly.

Here are details on the other attorneys who received sanctions.

  • Patrick Cameron Murray of Lubbock received a partially probated suspension for neglect of matters, failure to communicate with clients, failure to returned unearned fees and not responding to grievances, said his judgment.
  • David Saenz of McAllen received two fully probated suspensions for failing to supervise the conduct of his nonlawyer employee. One judgment said a personal injury client got an unsolicited call and visit about signing a contingency fee contract from Saenz's employee. The second judgment contained similar allegations.
  • Ronald T. Spriggs of Amarillo received a fully probated suspension for taking an unreasonable position in a criminal case that drove up costs, created other burdens, and delayed resolution of the case, his judgment said.
  • Everto A. Villarreal of Edinburg received a fully probated suspension for neglecting a medical-malpractice matter, and allowing the statute of limitations to run before communicating to the client, among other things, the judgment said.
  • Marc Elliot Villarreal of Corpus Christi received a partially probated suspension for using settlement funds from one client to pay out settlement funds to a different client, his judgment said. In a March 6 judgment, which came in too late for publication on the April discipline list, his law license was suspended for one year and on probation for four years for other trust account violations.
  • The list also included public reprimands against Javier Aguierre of Brownsville, Richard Contreras of El Paso and George B. Tennant Jr. of Pearland.
  • Thirteen other attorneys received private reprimands.