NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) — Baton Rouge attorney Dante Jerome Butler awaits the outcome of a recommendation issued by a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee in February that he be suspended over allegations that he improperly shared legal fees earned by non-attorneys and proofread their work.
Allegations against him stemmed from his work at the Knowledge Center Temple in Slidell, which assists prisoners in post-conviction proceedings, according to LADB Hearing Committee No. 12's report. The hearing committee recommended Butler be suspended for three years and that he pay full restitution and call costs and expenses, according to the committee's 22-page report.
The report was signed Jan. 9 by committee chairman Thomas Louis Colletta Jr. and was issued Feb. 5.
No additional updates in the matter, LADB recommendations or a decision by the state Supreme Court, have been posted the LADB website.
Butler was admitted to the bar in Louisiana Oct. 20, 2011, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. Butler had no prior discipline before the state bar and he made a full and free disclosure to the office of disciplinary counsel and has been cooperative during the proceedings, according to the hearing committee's report.
"[Butler] was also pleasant and cooperative at the hearing of this matter," the report said. "However, [Butler] did not appear remorseful and [Butler] profited from the attorney fees that were generated by the unauthorized services performed by non-lawyers at the Knowledge Center Temple."
During hearing into the matter, Butler testified he was approached by a temple representative in search of attorneys who could review work done there and that he knew the representative and his assistant were not attorneys. Butler said he agreed to proofread legal work done by the temple representative and his assistant "on behalf of individuals who contacted Knowledge Center Temple," the hearing committee's report said.
Butler was alleged to have violated rules in reference to fee sharing and facilitating the unauthorized practice of law.