NEW ORLEANS – Suspended longtime Houma attorney Paul E. Brown has been allowed to permanently resign following an Aug. 28 Louisiana Supreme Court order after he allegedly failed to comply with the court's previous disciplinary order.
The office of disciplinary counsel was conducting an investigation into allegations over Brown's failure to comply when he petitioned the court, saying he wanted to permanently resign from practicing law in lieu of discipline, according to the court's more recent order.
The office of disciplinary counsel concurred in Brown's petition.
The court accepted Brown's petition and ordered Brown to be permanently prohibited from practicing law in Louisiana or in any other jurisdiction.
Brown was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on Oct. 7, 1983, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website.
Brown was suspended following a split Supreme Court attorney disciplinary proceeding issued in September 2018 after he allegedly admitted to taking hydrocodone in January for pain following a fall and received an unfavorable evaluation. The high court suspended Brown for a year and a day with all but 90 days deferred and placed him on two years of conditional probation, according to the high 14-page attorney disciplinary proceeding.
Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Scott Jackson Crichton dissented from the majority, writing that the disposition of Brown's case had been premature and that the majority's opinion ignores Brown's "prayer for an opportunity to be heard as to the January 2018 incident and the June 2018 PWEC report."
Crichton said he would have remanded the matter for an evidentiary hearing.
Justice John L. Weimer and Justice Jefferson Davis Hughes III also dissented and assigned their reasons to Crichton's dissent.
In May 2017, a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) Hearing Committee recommended Brown be suspended and that he be required to stop using pain and sleep aids. The hearing committee's recommendation following Brown's alleged failures to report arrests and convictions for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence and other related charges.
The following November, the LADB recommended a fully deferred year-and-a-day suspension, along with two years probation and conditional substance-abuse evaluation.