I guess they haven’t heard of tough love over at the Texas State Bar. As covered yesterday at Overlawyered.com and today at The Legal Reader, three San Antonio lawyers, who were caught faking evidence and trying to bribe witnesses in a $2 billion suit against Chrysler, are being sued now by DaimlerChrysler in an attempt to hold law firms accountable for lawsuit abuse. Back in 2000, an appellate court imposed sanctions of about $900,000 against the three lawyers from San Antonio’s Kugle Law Firm, and
Reading the stories, your Editor wondered just what the Texas State Bar has done to discipline the three wayward bar members. Like other news sources, the New York Times, had noted that “The senior lawyer at the firm, Robert A. Kugle, has been suspended from the Texas bar.” (Adam Liptak, “Law Firm Is Sued Over Conduct in Liability Case”, New York Times, July 10, 2003.) Since suspension sounds rather inadequate, I pointed my browser at the Texas State Bar site to see if I could find out more. Here’s what I learned:
has indeed been suspended from practice in Texas, but it is an Administrative Suspension:
“Current Status Detail: Administrative Suspension. This attorney has been suspended by the State Bar of Texas for an Administrative reason. The suspension may be the result of one or more of the following: Failure to pay Inactive or Active Membership Dues Failure to pay Attorney Occupational Tax MCLE requirements non-compliance Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Default Failure to pay Child Support.“
Andrew E. Toscano is still “Eligible to Practice in Texas” (although news accounts say he’s moved to Mexico). Toscano’s Discipline History Detail shows “None on File — This Attorney’s status record indicates no prior disciplinary actions.”
Robert L. (Trey) Wilson III, appears to be employed at the San Antonio Law Firm of Louis T. Rosenberg, P.C, and remains “Eligible to Practice in Texas.” Like Toscano, his Discipline History Detail states “None on File — This Attorney’s status record indicates no prior disciplinary actions.”
We at ethicalEsq? get accused of being too tough on lawyers. But, it seems clear that the Texas State Bar has been a wee bit too soft on attorneys who have disgraced themselves and abused the justice system in an attempt to get very rich very quickly. Is it any wonder a recent study found
that over two-thirds of Americans lack confidence in the integrity of the lawyer discipline system? [See In the Interests of Justice: Reforming the Legal Profession (2000) by Stanford Law Professor Deborah Rhode.] Neither the urge to let your colleagues “save face,” nor the desire to conserve bar counsel resources, should prevent any state bar from taking tough, public disciplinary action against lawyers who have so outrageously and infamously shamed our profession.- Two Cents
P.S. As reported today by The Southern California Law Blog and the Sacramento Bee, the California State Bar has done a far more admirable job of policing its bar members’ conduct in another infamous case of lawsuit abuse. The SoCal Law Blog has pithily described the case: “The largest State Bar investigation in California history will close now that the three Trevor Law Group attorneys who twisted California’s unfair business practices law to extort money from small businesses resigned their legal licenses rather than face a trial before the State Bar.” That’s more like it.
you think you know but you do not know…don’t be so quick to judge a situation when you were not involved…all i have to say is that robert kugle was set up by hus two partners and then some…but once again don’t judge a situation that you were never a part of…
Comment by jensen — March 7, 2006 @ 9:05 pm
you think you know but you do not know…don’t be so quick to judge a situation when you were not involved…all i have to say is that robert kugle was set up by hus two partners and then some…but once again don’t judge a situation that you were never a part of…
Comment by jensen — March 7, 2006 @ 9:05 pm
you think you know but you do not know…don’t be so quick to judge a situation when you were not involved…all i have to say is that robert kugle was set up by his two partners and then some…but once again don’t judge a situation that you were never a part of…
Comment by jensen — March 7, 2006 @ 9:05 pm
you think you know but you do not know…don’t be so quick to judge a situation when you were not involved…all i have to say is that robert kugle was set up by his two partners and then some…but once again don’t judge a situation that you were never a part of…
Comment by jensen — March 7, 2006 @ 9:05 pm
WHERE YOU A MEMBER OF THE LAW FIRM. HOW ARE YOU SO SURE THAT KUGLE WAS SET UP. bECAUSE FROM WHAT I KNOW HE ISN’T THE BEST PERSON IN THE WORLD.
Comment by T. FRANK — October 28, 2006 @ 6:41 pm
i am not a member of the firm…i am his daughter and i know my father and i know the people that worked for him and those people are the scuzzy ones. garza is the crook. not my father. you don’t know anything unless you have seen it first hand. i lived it, you didn’t.
Comment by Jensen — January 24, 2007 @ 7:48 pm
YOU ARE RIGHT I DIDNT. BUT BEING THAT IM THE DAUGHTER HE HASNT SEEN SINCE MY 6TH BIRTHDAY FORGIVE ME IF IM NOT AS CONFIDENT IN HIM AS YOU ARE.
Comment by T. FRANK — January 25, 2007 @ 1:50 pm