The conclusion of a four-month stint at the Montgomery County Jail in January of this year wasn’t the end of Missouri City Democrat and attorney Rep. Ron Reynolds’ long-standing legal troubles.
Following a disbarment hearing on July 26, a disbarment order was signed July 29, 2019, effectively stripping Reynolds of his license to practice law in the state of Texas. The State Bar of Texas’ Board of Disciplinary Appeals cites Reynolds as “having been found guilty and convicted of Intentional and Serious Crimes” in its order.
What began as a barratry conviction against Reynolds in what prosecutors called an “ambulance chasing for profit” scheme” became a multi-year legal battle for Reynolds, who eventually ran out of appeals in 2018 and turned himself in to serve what became a shortened one-year jail sentence.
This disbarment follows a litany of ethically questionable offenses, including a history of flaunting the state’s campaign ethics rules when he “failed to file a campaign finance report for more than two years…and racked up more than $52,000 in fines from the Texas Ethics Commission,” as Reform Austin previously reported.
Additionally, in 2016 “Reynolds was ordered to pay more than half a million dollars to a former client whose share of a settlement he kept without her knowledge.”
Because the Texas Election Code does not require state legislators to resign over misdemeanor convictions, Reynolds was able to stay in his elected position when he won reelection from jail in 2018.
Republican Manish Seth has filed to run against Reynolds in 2020. So far, a Democratic primary challenger has not come forward.
