Thawer v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline

523 S.W.3d 177, 2017 WL 894538, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1848
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 6, 2017
DocketNo. 05-15-00984-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 523 S.W.3d 177 (Thawer v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thawer v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline, 523 S.W.3d 177, 2017 WL 894538, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1848 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice Richter

The trial court rendered judgment suspending appellant Sherin Thawer from the practice of law. Because we conclude' the trial court- did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence, the evidence was sufficient to support the judgment, and the judgment was not excessive, we affirm.

Backgeound■

The State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline (the “Commission”) brought this disciplinary action ^gainst Thawer, an attorney, alleging that she committed professional misconduct. The Commission alleged that Thawer violated the Texas Disciplinary Rules Of Professional Conduct by engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, and by violating a November 5, 2013 order of the United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, United States Immigration Court (the “Immigration Court Order”).

The Immigration Court Order was the result of a disciplinary proceeding against Thawer initiated in 2012 by the Disciplinary Counsel, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security. In an order dated July 31, 2013, Thawer was suspended from practice before “The Board of Immigration Appeals and the Immigration Courts” as well.as “United States Citizenship and Immigration Services” (“USCJS”) until July 26, 2014, “with conditional reinstatement restrictions.”

Thawer appealed the July 31, 2013 order. Her appeal was dismissed on November' 5, 2013, in the Immigration Court Order. The Immigration Court Order also provided:

FURTHER ORDER: The Immigration Judge’s decision, suspending the respondent from practice before the Immigration Courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, and DHS [Department of .Homeland Security], for one year, remains in effect.
[180]*180FURTHER ORDER: The respondent’s suspension is effective 15 days from this date. 8 C.F.R. § 1003.106(e)(2013). FURTHER ORDER: The respondent is directed to promptly notify, in writing, any clients with cases currently pending before the Board, the Immigration Courts, or the DHS that the respondent has been suspended from practicing before these bodies.

In this suit, the Commission alleges Thawer violated the Immigration Court Order and engaged in conduct violating rules 8.04(a)(3), 8.04(a)(7), and 8.04(a)(ll), Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.2 Those rules provide:

8.04 Misconduct
(a) A lawyer shall not:
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(3) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation; ...
(7) violate any disciplinary or disability order or judgment; ...
(11) engage in the practice of law when ... the lawyer’s right to practice has been suspended or terminated ....

The case proceeded to a bench trial. The Commission offered evidence that in December, 2013, several weeks after the Immigration Court Order became effective, Thawer appeared at the USCIS Dallas Immigration Field Office for a hearing regarding her clients Manan Sapkota and Emma Sharma. Thawer instructed Kiran Talluri, a newly-hired associate, to meet her there. Parker Jones, an immigration services officer, conducted the hearing. Priscilla Dobbins was the acting supervisor at the field office on the date of the hearing. Sapkota, Sharma, Talluri, Jones, and Dobbins testified at trial about the hearing.

Sharma testified she hired Thawer in August 2013 to represent her to obtain her green card. A hearing on Sharma’s application was scheduled at the immigration office in December. Thawer arrived late. Before the hearing commenced, “somebody came and took [Thawer] away.” Shar-ma did not know who took Thawer away or why, and Thawer did not return. Sharma said at the time of the hearing she did not know Thawer had been suspended from practicing immigration law. Thawer never sent Sharma written notice of her suspension; Sharma did not learn of it until she was contacted by the State Bar in the year before trial. Sharma testified that although Talluri was present at the hearing, “I didn’t know if he was my lawyer or not.”

Sapkota confirmed that he and Sharma, his then-fiancé, hired Thawer as their attorney to obtain Sharma’s green card. They paid Thawer a fee of $1500. When he and Sharma arrived at the immigration office for the December hearing, Thawer was not yet there. They met Talluri, who instructed them to wait for Thawer. They had not met Talluri before, did not know he was a lawyer, and had not discussed their case with him. Sapkota testified that “I’m pretty confused at that time what he was doing out there.” Thawer arrived, but “for some reason she was not allowed to come in over there to that—to that office.” Sapkota had “no idea” why. He did not know Thawer had been suspended from practicing immigration law. She did not send him written notice; he learned of her suspension only a few months before trial.

Talluri testified that he was employed by Thawer for three or four weeks in [181]*181December 2013 and January 2014. Thawer called him in ■ mid-December saying “she had an opportunity for me to go to the immigration court the next morning, show up at eight o’clock.” He understood that his “role would be passive, that I would learn about how immigration hearings worked.” He had not reviewed the file before that day and had not discussed the case with the clients. When he arrived at the immigration office, Thawer was not there. He introduced himself to Sapkota and Sharma and told them “[t]hat we’re here waiting for [Thawer]. I’m just here to sort of shadow her, figure out how this is done.” The case was called, but Talluri informed the immigration services officer that Thawer had not yet arrived,"and she was the lawyer representing Sapkota and Sharma. When Thawer arrived, they “all went into a room in the back,” but before the hearing began, Thawer “got pulled out of the room,” and he was left to represent the clients.

Talluri explained that at the time of the hearing, he did not know that Thawer had been suspended from practicing immigration law. That morning he did not hear Thawer tell anyone that she had been suspended. His understanding was that the clients'were also “pretty clueless” about Thawer’s suspension. He did not know at the time he was hired that Thawér had been suspended; he found out after the hearing when he returned to Thawer’s office and was told by “the other employees.”

Jones testified that when he called the case to begin the hearing, he was told that Sapkota and Sharma were still waiting for their attorney. Thawer then arrived, and Jones took both attorneys and the clients back to his office. Jones asked Thawer why two attorneys were present. Thawer “stated that the other individual, Mr. Tal-luri, was going to be observing the interview.” Thawer did not tell Jones that she was suspended from practicing immigration law, and he did not know of her suspension. Jones then received a phone call from another immigration officer, who asked Jones to meet- him in the hallway.

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Bluebook (online)
523 S.W.3d 177, 2017 WL 894538, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1848, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thawer-v-commission-for-lawyer-discipline-texapp-2017.