NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) — Baton Rouge attorney Gregory Cook faces possible suspension following a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) recommendation to the state Supreme Court over conflict of interest allegations.
The LADB recommended Cook be suspended for six months, with all but 30 days deferred, and be placed on a year of conditional probation, according to the LADB's 12-page recommendation issued Jun. 28. The LADB also recommended Cook be required to attend the state bars ethics school and pay restitution to one client and all costs and expenses in the matter.
The LADB's recommendation follows a hearing committee's legal conclusions and its own recommendations filed in February.
Cook was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 26, 2012, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. Cook had no prior discipline before the state bar, according to the LADB's recommendation and his state bar profile.
This past February, an LADB hearing committee recommended Cook be suspended six months following allegations he had committed conflicts of interests. Cook was alleged to have represented clients adverse to each other and to have negligently represented one group of clients against another client in the same matter.
In his answer to the charges, filed in August, Cook "disputed some of the allegations in the formal charges but did not admit or deny violating the rules," the LADB recommendation said.
Shortly after the hearing committee's report was issued, the office of disciplinary counsel filed an objection, saying Cook had acted negligently and knowingly, and maintained that the committee's recommended discipline was too lenient, according to the LABD recommendation.
"The committee did not discuss aggravating and mitigating factors," the LADB's recommendation said. "The record does not support any aggravating factors. However, the record does support several mitigating factors: absence of a prior disciplinary record, absence of a dishonest or selfish motive, full and free disclosure to disciplinary board or cooperative attitude toward the proceedings, inexperience in the practice of law and remorse."