Supreme Court unit suspends license of lawyer in meth case

The head of the state’s legal ethics office said that the law license for the attorney facing a felony methamphetamine charge has been suspended.

On Wednesday, Stark Ligon, the executive director of the state Supreme Court’s Office of Professional Conduct said that his office has not filed a complaint to trigger disbarment for James Clouette, the Little Rock attorney who in April was arrested a second time for dropping drugs in a bank lobby.

But Ligon said that their findings that led to Clouette’s law license being suspended last month removed Clouette from posing any “substantial threat of serious harm” to the public or clients.

“We are monitoring Mr. Clouette’s situation, especially his criminal case, and once we see how that turns out then we can make a decision on what we’re going to do,” Ligon said. “We generally wait here until a criminal charge is resolved for this particular reason. … If they have an actual felony conviction in circuit court, that alone is a basis for a likely disbarment.”

Ligon’s group is tasked with fielding complaints on the state’s attorneys and investigating allegations of misconduct. When misconduct is confirmed, the group submits its findings of fact to the state Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct to determine what type of disciplinary action, if any, is appropriate.

Clouette — who has now been publicly disciplined six times by Ligon’s office — was arrested on April 1 on a drug warrant in Little Rock. The warrant was issued nearly a year after Clouette was identified as the man who dropped a baggie of methamphetamine on the lobby floor of a west Little Rock Onebanc branch.

In November 2009, Clouette was convicted of methamphetamine possession after he dropped another bag of meth on the floor of a downtown Little Rock bank.

Though Clouette maintained his innocence, the Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Conduct fined Clouette, issued him an official “caution” and also put him on probation.

But they took additional action after learning about the new charges.

Weeks after his latest arrest by Little Rock officers, ethics officials suspended Clouette’s law license, saying the alleged crime constituted “serious misconduct” if proven.

The ethics panel is also disciplining Clouette for mishandling a client’s case.

On May 15, Clouette received a letter of reprimand from the state’s professional conduct committee, according to the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office.

Beginning in May 2009, Clouette represented convicted murderer James Flower and was supposed to help him appeal. But Clouette failed to file a brief with the Supreme Court arguing for a new trial. In September 2013, after state attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, Clouette failed to respond.

In October 2013, the state supreme court dismissed the case.

“As a result of the dismissal,” Clouette’s letter of reprimand stated, “Flowers may now be procedurally barred from seeking further relief.”

Clouette also collected $370.50 to pay appeals fees, but failed to document that any of the money was used for the fee filing and failed to refund the money to his client’s wife.