NEW ORLEANS — Suspended Bossier City attorney John E. Settle Jr. has been allowed to permanently resign following a Jan. 14 Louisiana Supreme Court order.
In its scant single-page order, the Supreme Court approved Settle's petition for permanent resignation from practicing law in the state, in lieu of discipline, with the concurrence of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Settle's petition followed formal charged against him by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel that he engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. The high court's action means that Settle "shall be permanently prohibited from practicing law in Louisiana or in any other jurisdiction in which he is admitted," the order said.
Settle was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 26, 2012, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association’s website.
Last June, a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee concluded that Settle's alleged misconduct "caused no actual harm to any of the parties or participants" and recommended that he should face no further sanction. In that proceeding, Settle had been charged with engaging in unauthorized practice of law and engaging in conduct that involves dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.
Settle's disciplinary history dates to soon after his admission to the bar. In February 2015, the Louisiana Supreme Court accepted a joint petition for consent discipline reached between Settle and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and publicly reprimanded the attorney. In that matter, Settled acknowledged he "disrupted the courts of two judges and compromised the confidentiality of a Judiciary Commission investigation."
In October 2016, Settle was placed on a fully deferred year-and-a-day suspension for violating a recovery agreement and testing positive for alcohol.
In July 2017, the state Supreme Court suspended Settle, then practicing in Shreveport, for "threat of harm."
In September 2018, LADB Hearing Committee No. 17 recommended Settle be suspended for three years, made retroactive to his July 2017 interim suspension, for attempting to practice law while suspended.