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RECENT ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY CASES FILED IN HARRIS COUNTY
DISTRICT COURTS
STATE BAR FILES SUIT SEEKING IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF LOCAL ATTORNEY GRACE
DIANE KOPACZ, based on indictment for money laundering and insurance fraud.
See Original Petition for Immediate Interim Suspension in Cause No. 2009-59239; Commission for
Lawyer Discipline v Grace Diane Kopacz, assigned to the 334th District Court of Harris County, Texas,
filed Sep 16, 2009. SBOT Profile for Attorney Grace Diane Kopacz. State Bar records indicate that
Kopacz was licensed in 2004 and has her own law firm with primary practice area in personal injury law
named Law Office Of Grace D. Kopacz, located on West Loop South in Houston. see SBOT Member
Profile of Grace Diane Kopacz
RECENT ATTORNEY DISCIPLINE AND RELATED CASES FROM THE
HOUSTON COURTS OF APPEALS
Neely v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline (Tex.App.- Houston [14th Dist] Sep. 10, 2009)(Frost)
(commingling of funds, use of IOLTA trust account for personal and business expenses)
(admission of bank records issue, improper subpoena)
AFFIRMED: Opinion by Justice Frost
Before Justice Frost
14-08-00526-CV George R. Neely v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline
Appeal from 164th District Court of Harris County
Trial Court Judge: Jack Hollis Robison
Brown v. Green (Tex.App.- Houston [14th Dist.] Sep. 1, 2009)(Hedges)
(legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty) (SJ for defendant affirmed)
AFFIRMED: Opinion by Chief Justice Hedges
Before Chief Justice Hedges, Justices Brock Yates and Frost
14-08-00592-CV Willard E. Brown III v. George Maynard Green and Sheehy, Lovelace & Mayfield, P.C.
Appeal from 74th District Court of McLennan County (name of judge not shown on docket)
In his reply brief, Brown additionally cites Rules 1.05 and 1.09 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of
Professional Conduct as establishing attorney duties that Green breached. Tex. Disciplinary R. Prof'l
Conduct 1.05, 1.09, reprinted in Tex. Gov't Code Ann., tit. 2, subtit. G app. A (Vernon 2005 & Supp.
2009) (Tex. State Bar R. art. X, § 9). However, as discussed above, a party generally may not raise
issues for the first time in an appellate reply brief. See Clear Creek Basin Auth., 589 S.W.2d at
678-79; Swaab, 282 S.W.3d at 527 n.10; Bynum, 129 S.W.3d at 791; see also Tex. R. App. P. 33.1(a),
38.3. Furthermore, Brown's contention that these rules establish standards by which an attorney's
liability may be judged is refuted by the preamble to the State Bar Rules, which states:
These rules do not undertake to define standards of civil liability of lawyers for professional conduct.
Violation of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct does not give rise to a private cause
of action nor does it create any presumption that a legal duty to a client has been breached. . . .
Accordingly, nothing in the rules should be deemed to augment any substantive legal duty of lawyers
or the extra-disciplinary consequences of violating such a duty.
Tex. Disciplinary R. Prof'l Conduct preamble & 15. A claim that a lawyer has violated a rule of
professional conduct should be raised in a disciplinary proceeding. McGuire, Craddock, Strother &
Hale, P.C. v. Transcon. Realty Investors, Inc., 251 S.W.3d 890, 896 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2008, pet.
denied). Brown cites no authority, and we are aware of none, holding an attorney liable solely based
on violations of the disciplinary rules.
Goldberg v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline (Tex.App.- Houston [1st Dist.] July 3, 2008)(Taft)
(disciplinary matter, jurisdiction re: disbarment where criminal conviction was overturned)
AFFIRM TC JUDGMENT: Opinion by Justice Taft
Before Justices Taft, Jennings and Bland
01-07-01104-CV Daniel Goldberg v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline, and State Bar of Texas
Appeal from 295th District Court of Harris County
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Tracy Christopher
Concurring Opinion by Justice Jennings
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