Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht is appealing a Texas Ethics Commission finding that he accepted a large in-kind donation (in the form of discounted legal fees) and failed to report it as a political contribution. Hecht incurred more than $476,000 in legal fees in his fight with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which sanctioned Hecht for speaking out publicly in support of Harriet Miers when she was named by former President George W. Bush as a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. But ultimately, Hecht only paid roughly $309,000 of the fees billed by his attorney at the law firm of Jackson Walker. Hecht said the discount was a negotiated fee (a way for a person of “limited means,” Hecht said in an affidavit, to pay his debt), but nonpartisan advocacy group Texas Watch argued that the deep discount was actually an in-kind contribution that went unreported by Hecht.
The Ethics Commission agreed and fined Hecht $29,000 in December. But Hecht is appealing, arguing in a petition filed Jan. 27 in Travis Co. district court that the commission’s ruling conflicts with the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers, which includes the admonition that lawyers “must charge reasonable fees.” That’s all Jackson Walker was doing when it lowered Hecht’s bill, he argues. “The commission itself mandates that politicians and judges be charged for goods and services like any other customer,” Hecht’s petition reads. “Nevertheless, the commission’s decision creates a different legal fee structure for judges alone. Under this new structure, adjustments to legal bills to establish a reasonable fee turn into improper campaign contributions.”
This article appears in February 6 • 2009.