NEW ORLEANS – Gonzales attorney Anthony Terrell Marshall, practicing in Louisiana for 22 years, has been voluntarily transferred to disability inactive status following a May 11 Louisiana Supreme Court hearing, held more than two years after he was suspended by a federal court for alleged misconduct in two civil matters.
Marshall's transfer was effective immediately, according to the high court's single-page order. "All disciplinary proceedings against [Marshall] shall be deferred until such time as he resumes active status," the order said.
Marshall was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 19, 1996, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website.
Last October, the Supreme Court handed down an interim suspension against Marshall following an office of disciplinary counsel petition for the suspension "for threat of harm."
The October order followed a U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana's 21-page ruling on its order to show cause issued in January of 2016, in which Marshall was suspended for 60 days as a sanction over his conduct in two separate civil actions. "The evidence unequivocally shows – and the court finds – that, on multiple occasions over a period of 10 and a half months, Marshall failed to follow court-ordered deadlines, make court-ordered appearances, participate in discovery and otherwise failed to follow the orders and the local rules of this court," the district court ruling said.
"Many of these failures were without any adequate justification. In those instances where Marshall had some reasonable excuse for his conduct, the court finds that he either failed to bring these to the court’s attention in a timely fashion or otherwise failed to take steps to remedy the situation in advance. Despite multiple orders issuing sanctions, multiple warnings given to Marshall, and Marshall's assurance that the conduct would cease, it did not cease."
The U.S. District Court also ordered Marshall to complete six hours of continuing legal education "in the area of ethics and/or professionalism with a focus on an attorney's duties of diligence to his client and the court."