A DWI arrest is a career-level event for a licensed attorney. The State Bar of Texas treats certain criminal convictions as professional misconduct in their own right, separate from the underlying criminal case, and the rules that decide what happens next are narrower than most lawyers assume.
What the State Bar Requires
- No self-report duty, which surprises most lawyers. Neither Chapter 81 of the Government Code nor the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure requires a Texas lawyer to notify the State Bar of a DWI arrest or a misdemeanor DWI conviction. What brings the Bar in is a grievance filed by someone else, or the compulsory discipline process described below.
- Compulsory discipline is narrower than it sounds. It reaches only an Intentional Crime or a Serious Crime as Rule 1.06 of the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure defines those terms, which means barratry, a felony involving moral turpitude, or a misdemeanor involving theft, embezzlement, or fraudulent or reckless misappropriation. A DWI does not ordinarily fit either definition. Where the process does apply, it is the State Bar’s compulsory discipline process, which can include interim suspension while the underlying matter is resolved.
- Misdemeanor DWI still matters. Even a misdemeanor conviction can be referred for a grievance review depending on the facts.
Why the Criminal Outcome Shapes Everything Else
A dismissal or favorable resolution in the criminal case gives the Bar far less to act on than a conviction does. Given the mandatory reporting timeline, waiting to see how things shake out is not a strategy that serves you here. The criminal defense has to be handled with the license consequences in mind from day one.
Facing a DWI as a Licensed Attorney? Contact Blass Law Now
Contact Blass Law for a confidential case evaluation or call (713) 664-4000. We understand exactly what’s riding on this beyond the criminal case itself.