NEW ORLEANS — Sunset attorney Roy Joseph Richard Jr. faces possible disbarment following a recent recommendation by a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee.
In its 14-page recommendation, LADB Hearing Committee No. 5 recommended disbarment retroactive to the date of his suspension last spring.
Richard allegedly abandoned his practice and three clients. In addition, he practiced law in Louisiana while ineligible, the recommendation said.
The recommendation was signed Oct. 18 by committee chair Charles B. Landry. Committee attorney member Paul D. Gibson and public member Timala Melancon concurred in the recommendation.
The recommendation is the latest in at least a half dozen discipline recommendations issued for Richard since early 2016. This past May, LADB Hearing Committee No. 22 recommended Richard be suspended for 30 months, with six months deferred, for allegedly failing to act with diligence and promptness on behalf of a client, abandoning his client and retained unearned fees..
That hearing committee's recommendation came four days after the Louisiana Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Richard for "threat of harm."
Richard was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 16, 2004, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website.
The latest recommendation also is not the first time that LADB Hearing Committee No. 5 considered discipline for Richard. In April 2015, LADB Hearing Committee No. 5 recommended Richard be suspended for a year and a day for filing to maintain complete records of his Interest on Lawyers' Trust Account (IOLTA) and subsequently failed to respond to the office of disciplinary counsel.
The following September, LADB Hearing Committee No. 5 again recommended Richard be suspended for a year and a day, with all but 60 days deferred, following an overdraft on his IOLTA. The hearing committee found that the overdraft had caused no harm, but Richard subsequently failed cooperate with the office of disciplinary counsel's investigation.