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By: Corte H.B. No. 2843
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to legal and judicial ethics.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 2, Government Code, is amended by adding
Chapter 92 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 92. DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIP.
Sec. 92.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) the term "financial relationship" as used in this
chapter means any relationship between a judge and a person that
provides an actual or potential economic benefit of more than
$1,000 to the judge or any person related to the judge by affinity
or consanguinity within the first degree, as determined under
Chapter 573. The term includes any current relationship, known
future relationship, or past relationship. The term does not
include a political contribution accepted by the judge in
compliance with Subchapter F, Chapter 253, Election Code.
(2) "Economic benefit" includes any gift, money,
service, use of facility, real or personal property, or any other
thing of value.
Sec. 92.002. DUTY TO DISCLOSE. A judge presiding in a
civil case who has actual knowledge of a financial relationship
with any attorney or party involved in the case, in the two years
preceding the date on which the first pleading or motion was filed
by the attorney or party in the case, shall disclose the financial
relationship to the attorneys and parties involved in the case.
Sec. 92.003. FAILURE TO DISCLOSE. A judge's knowing
failure to make a disclosure required by Section 92.002 is ground
for disciplinary action by the Judicial Conduct Commission.
SECTION 2. Section 81.002, Government Code is amended to
read as follows:
(6) "Chief disciplinary counsel" means either the
attorney selected under Section 81.076, or the attorney general
under Section 81.080, who performs disciplinary functions for the
state bar under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional
Conduct and the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure.
SECTION 3. Section 81.072(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The supreme court shall establish minimum standards and
procedures for the attorney disciplinary and disability system.
The standards and procedures for processing complaints against
attorneys must provide for:
(1) investigation of all inquiries and complaints;
(2) a full explanation to each complainant on
dismissal of an inquiry or a complaint;
(3) periodic preparation of abstracts of inquiries and
complaints filed that, even if true, do or do not constitute
misconduct;
(4) an information file for each complaint filed;
(5) a complaint tracking system to monitor processing
of complaints by category, method of resolution, and length of time
required for resolution;
(6) notice [by the state bar] to the parties of the
filing and status of a written complaint filed with the state bar or
attorney general that the state bar or the attorney general has the
authority to resolve [of the status of the complaint], at least
quarterly and until final disposition, unless the notice would
jeopardize an undercover investigation;
(7) an administrative system for attorney
disciplinary and disability decisions as an option to trials in
district court, including an appeal procedure under the substantial
evidence rule;
(8) an administrative system for reciprocal and
compulsory discipline;
(9) interim suspension of an attorney posing a threat
of immediate irreparable harm to a client;
(10) authorizing all parties to an attorney
disciplinary hearing, including the complainant, to be present at
all hearings at which testimony is taken and requiring notice of
those hearings to be given to the complainant not later than the
seventh day before the date of the hearing;
(11) the commission adopting rules that govern the use
of private reprimands by grievance committees and that prohibit a
committee:
(A) giving an attorney more than one private
reprimand within a five-year period for a violation of the same
disciplinary rule; or
(B) giving a private reprimand for a violation
that involves a failure to return an unearned fee, a theft, or a
misapplication of fiduciary property; and
(12) distribution of a voluntary survey to all
complainants urging views on grievance system experiences.
SECTION 4. Section 81.077(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) This chapter does not prohibit a grievance committee, on
its own or through the chief disciplinary counsel or the attorney
general, from investigating a complaint of professional misconduct
alleged to have occurred in the geographical area served by the
committee, but any action must be filed in the county of the
attorney's residence.
SECTION 5. Section 81.078(e), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(e) Either the grievance committee for the bar district or
the general counsel may enforce [seek enforcement of] this section.
SECTION 6. Subchapter E, Chapter 81, Government Code, is
amended by adding new section 81.080 to read as follows:
Sec. 81.080. ATTORNEY GENERAL ENFORCEMENT.
(a) At the attorney general's discretion, the attorney
general may serve as the chief disciplinary counsel, and has all the
enforcement powers and duties of that office.
(b) If the attorney general serves as the chief disciplinary
counsel, the attorney general shall act in accordance with all
applicable procedures established in the Texas Rules of
Disciplinary Procedure, but the attorney general shall have the
discretion to initiate investigation and enforcement proceedings
independent of a writing apparently intended to allege profession
misconduct as described in Rule 2.09, Texas Rules of Disciplinary
Procedure, and without complying with Rule 2.09, Texas Rules of
Disciplinary Procedure.
(c) If the attorney general initiates a disciplinary action
or disciplinary proceeding defined by Rule 1.06 of the Texas Rules
of Disciplinary Procedure, the attorney general shall act as the
chief disciplinary counsel.
(d) The attorney general may, at the attorney general's
discretion, elect to serve as the chief disciplinary counsel in a
disciplinary action or disciplinary proceeding that is initiated by
the state bar.
SECTION 7. Title 6, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 148 to read as follows:
Sec. 148.001. Division of Fees Between Lawyers Not of the
Same Firm. A lawyer shall not divide a fee for legal services with
another lawyer who is not a partner in or associate of the lawyer's
law firm, unless:
(1) The client consents to employment of the other lawyer in
writing after a full disclosure that a division of fees will be
made.
(2) The division is in proportion to the services performed
by each lawyer or, by a writing given to the client, each lawyer
assumes joint responsibility for the representation.
(3) The total fee of the lawyers does not exceed reasonable
compensation for all legal services the lawyers provided to the
client.
SECTION 8. Section 148.001, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a contract for
attorneys' fees that is executed on or after the effective date of
this Act. A contract for fees that is executed before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the contract
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.