By Gene Davis

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Williamson County Attorney Jana Duty was reprimanded by the State Bar of Texas for breaking confidentiality rules while acting as counsel to commissioners court.

Under the agreement announced last week, the State Bar of Texas dismissed 23 out of 24 complaints filed against Duty by the Williamson County Commissioners Court. The reprimand for the one complaint will not impact Duty’s capacity as Williamson county attorney, Duty said.

“I’m very pleased that this is behind me,” Duty said in a statement. “In the end, I would have loved to take this final politically motivated grievance all the way to trial, but my personal legal fees alone would have likely exceeded $100,000. Additionally, it would have been an enormous distraction from continuing to do what the people of this county elected me to do—protect our families, save tax dollars and fight the good-old-boy system at the courthouse.”

Commissioners filed complaints with the State Bar of Texas against Duty after she filed a lawsuit calling for the removal of Williamson County Judge Dan Gattis from office. The lawsuit alleged five instances of misconduct on the part of Gattis, namely hiring and paying other attorneys without proper authorization. A judge dismissed that lawsuit in January 2011.

The State Bar reprimanded Duty for using information she learned in a commissioners court executive session in the lawsuit she filed to remove Gattis from office. The agreed judgment states that Duty violated rule 1.05 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by making the confidential information public in the lawsuit.

Although Duty signed off on the agreed judgment, she said the confidentially rule has an exception that allows a lawyer to reveal confidential information if the lawyer has reason to believe it is necessary to comply with a court order, a Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct or other law. She said she thinks making the information public fit the exception.

“I make no apologies for standing up for the rule of law, and if I had to do (it) all over again, I would have made the same decision,” she said in a statement.

Gattis was not immediately available for comment.