Photo: Atstock Productions/Shutterstock.comAustin Lawyer's Mishandling of $64K Brings Disbarment. 20 Other Texas Attorneys Sanctioned
A list of Texas lawyer discipline cases that was released Friday included 21 attorneys with ethics sanctions, which included three disbarments, eight law license suspensions, two public reprimands and eight private reprimands.
May 01, 2020 at 01:22 PM
4 minute read
Austin lawyer Damon Dean Robertson's misconduct in handling nearly $64,000 of a client's money has ended with his disbarment.
A woman hired Robertson in a divorce case and she won the funds from the sale of her home and her ex-husband's retirement account. The client's money was in Robertson's trust account initially, but the lawyer transferred the money to himself in January 2017, said a judgment of disbarment. She never received her funds. The attorney's mishandling of two business litigation matters for a different client, which ended with that client facing significant judgments, are also reasons behind Robertson's disbarment.
His cases are just one of the lawyer discipline actions against 21 total attorneys included on the May disciplinary list announced Friday by the State Bar of Texas Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel. Two other attorneys on the list were also disbarred, while eight lawyers received partially or fully probated suspensions of their law licenses. Public reprimands were issued to two attorneys, and another eight lawyers were privately reprimanded, according to the list.
Here are links to the public disciplinary documents in the rest of the cases on the May discipline list.
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Read the disciplinary list:
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Disbarments
- Arturo A. Guzman of San Marcos was disbarred on Feb. 26 by a grievance committee.
- Joe Jesse Ponce III of San Antonio was disbarred on Feb. 18 by Bexar County's 285th District Court.
- Robertson's disbarment by a grievance committee was based on two cases, one from the divorce and business litigation matters and the other for a probate case.
Partially probated suspensions
- Sean Michael Cohen of San Antonio on Feb. 26 was suspended for three years, but only the first months is actively suspended and the rest is probation.
- Claude Robert Graham of Chesapeake, Virginia, will be suspended for six months followed by six months of probation.
- Paul Steven Jacobs of Houston received a 25-month suspension, and he'll be actively suspended for six months, with the remainder on probation.
- Marc Elliot Villarreal of Corpus Christi was suspended for five years, but only the first 12 months is active and the remainder is on probation.
Fully probated suspensions
- Rochelle Dianne Davis of Houston received probation for one year for two disciplinary cases, and six months for a third case. View the first, second and third judgments.
- James Keith Mayo of Tyler received probation for one year.
- Charles Wesley Skinner of Waxahachie received probation for four months.
- Andrew Christopher Smith of Houston was placed on probation for three years.
Public reprimands
- Oscar L. Cantu Jr. of San Antonio was publicly reprimanded by a grievance committee.
- Richard Abram Roman of El Paso was also publicly reprimanded by a grievance committee.
Private reprimands
The May disciplinary list does not identify the eight attorneys who received private reprimands. It does include an explanation of the disciplinary rules that they violated, including neglecting matters, going against clients' decisions about representation, failing to keep clients informed well enough about their cases, and more.
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