On Wednesday, November 12, 2025, the Disciplinary Counsel filed a complaint against attorney Deanna Robertson, alleging violations of the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct. The complaint, filed with the Board of Professional Conduct, accuses Robertson of submitting inaccurate fee-application forms to the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court for her services as court-appointed counsel.
The case is entitled “In the Matter of Deanna Robertson,” with case number 2025-028.
Robertson has primarily focused on representing indigent criminal defendants as court-appointed counsel, with approximately 97% of her practice dedicated to this area between 2018 and 2023. The remaining 3% consisted of private criminal defense work, and her court-appointed cases were limited to the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Until June 30, 2022, Robertson was compensated at an hourly rate of $50 to $60 for court-appointed work, differentiated between “out-of-court” and “in-court” time. Subsequently, the Cuyahoga County Council approved an increase, setting the rate at $75 per hour for both types of time, effective July 1, 2022. To receive payment, Robertson was required to submit a standard fee application form to the court.
The complaint alleges that Robertson filed numerous incorrect fee-application forms, which reflected excessive hours on multiple days. Audits conducted by the Office of the Ohio Public Defender (OPD) of Cuyahoga County’s reimbursement requests revealed several instances where Robertson billed more than 24 hours in a single day. Specifically, the OPD identified seven dates between October 2020 and May 2022 where Robertson billed between 24.4 and 31.6 hours. Additionally, the audit found 20 dates with billings between 20 and 24 hours, and 46 dates with billings between 16 and 20 hours.
The OPD’s findings also highlighted instances of excessive billing over consecutive days. For example, from September 28, 2021, to October 2, 2021, Robertson billed a total of 99.4 hours.
Further, the complaint notes that on November 9, 2021, Robertson’s fee-application forms indicated she spent 10.5 hours “in-court,” despite the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court being open to the public for only eight hours that day. Similar discrepancies were noted for March 1 and March 7, 2022.
In response to a grievance filed by then-State Public Defender Timothy Young, Robertson admitted to double-billing, explaining that she billed for both the time spent downloading evidence files and the time spent working on other matters simultaneously. She also acknowledged billing for support-staff time, despite certifying that the time stated on the forms was performed by her or an attorney under her supervision.
The OPD’s Standards and Guidelines for Appointed Counsel Reimbursement explicitly state that billing for support-staff time is not reimbursable.
As a result of these findings, Robertson has agreed to refund Cuyahoga County/the State of Ohio for fees received when billing over 16 hours in a day, starting with fee applications submitted on or after July 1, 2022. The total restitution owed is $16,324, covering the period from October 4, 2020, to September 24, 2022.
The Disciplinary Counsel alleges that Robertson’s conduct violates ProiCond.R. 8.4(c), which prohibits a lawyer from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. The Relator requests that Robertson be found in violation of the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct and sanctioned accordingly.
According to Avvo, Ms. Silverman is a lawyer in Cleveland, OH. She acquired her law license in Florida in 1991.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
