On Wednesday, November 16, 2022, Hearing Committee #10 of the Louisiana Attorney Discipline Board filed its Report recommending Metairie Attorney Quiana Marie Hunt’s suspension from the practice of law for one year and one day.

The case is styled In Re: Quiana Marie Hunt and was brought by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (“ODC”) under case no. 22-DB-030.

The cited charges are Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1(b) and (c), 8.1(b) and (c), and 8.4(a), which state:

Rule 1.1 Competence

(b) A lawyer is required to comply with the minimum requirements of continuing legal education as prescribed by Louisiana Supreme Court rule.

(c) A lawyer is required to comply with all of the requirements of the Supreme Court’s rules regarding annual registration, including payment of Bar dues, payment of the disciplinary assessment, timely notification of changes of address, and proper disclosure of trust account information or any changes therein.

Rule 8.1 Bar Admission and Disciplinary Matters

An applicant for admission to the bar, or a lawyer in connection with a bar admission application or in connection with a disciplinary matter, shall not:

(b) Fail to disclose a fact necessary to correct a misapprehension known by the person to have arisen in the matter, or knowingly fail to respond to a lawful demand for information from an admissions or disciplinary authority, except that this rule does not require disclosure of information otherwise protected by Rule 1.6; or

Rule 8.4 Misconduct

It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:

(a) Violate or attempt to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct, knowingly assist or induce another to do so, or do so through the acts of another

The rules of professional conduct can be found here.

The following is alleged and summarized from the filing:

Ms. Hunt was previously suspended from the practice of law for one year and one day, fully deferred, with two years of probation for violating the Rules of Professional Conduct including the safekeeping of property and failure to cooperate with the ODC on November 2019. The Court order provided that any failure to comply with the conditions of probation, or any misconduct during the probationary period, may be grounds for making the deferred suspension, executory, or imposing additional discipline as appropriate.

During her probation period, Ms. Hunt violated the terms of the probation contract, by failing to comply with mandatory continuing legal education requirements, having failed to pay the costs associated with her discipline in November 2019, and having failed to file her annual Trust Account Disclosure Form. Ms. Hunt also failed to inform the ODC of her change of address during the probation period. Moreover, on February 11, 2022, a complaint was filed before the ODC alleging the inability to contact Ms. Hunt through all forms of communication (i.e, telephone calls, texts, and social media). It was further alleged that Ms. Hunt failed to respond to a lawful demand from ODC and failed to cooperate with ODC during the disciplinary process, which resulted in the factual allegations deemed admitted.

By these acts, the Hearing Committee ruled against Ms. Hunt in relation to the above-cited Rules of Professional Conduct.

The Recommendation reads:

“Based on the foregoing, the Committee concludes that the Respondent knowingly violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1 (b) and (c), 8.1 (b) and (c), and 8.4 (a), and the Committee recommends that the appropriate sanction for Respondent’s violations is a one-year and one-day suspension from the practice of law.

The Committee further recommends that the Respondent be assessed with the costs and expenses of this proceeding pursuant to Supreme Court Rule XIX, §10.1.”

Ms. Quiana Marie Hunt has practiced in Metairie, Louisiana. She has been licensed in Louisiana, license no. 35835.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.