A recent Texas Lawyer story by Angela Morris, “No Free Lunch? Judge Sanctioned for Eating Meal From Firm Seeking $2M in Fees,” reports that a judge who ate for free at a law firm’s luncheon—and the next day awarded the firm $2 million in attorney fees—is facing a judicial sanction that claims her activities cast doubt on her impartiality and ability to perform her judicial duties.
Judge Fredericka Phillips of the 61st District Court in Houston received a public warning for attending a 2018 lawyer swearing-in celebration of the Houston firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing, even though the firm represented a defendant in a hotly contested case before the judge.
Neither Phillips nor her attorney, Billy Shepherd of Shepherd Prewett in Houston, immediately responded to messages seeking comment.
“To the extent there is any suggestion that the fees were awarded because of the luncheon is ludicrous,” said John Zavitsanos, an Ahmad Zavitsanos partner. “The award of attorney fees was taken up by another court after Judge Phillips was recused, and that amount was affirmed in its entirety.”
He added that the judge was only at the luncheon for a short time, after she had sworn in five new attorneys. Those new lawyers had recently attended parts of a civil trial in Phillips’ courtroom where Ahmad Zavitsanos represented a defendant who won.
“I think she had like a salad and it was like $15 or something. I guess in retrospect, I should have made her pay or something. But it didn’t occur to me,” said Zavitsanos.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct released the public warning Wednesday, although it was issued April 9. The warning explained that Zavitsanos was representing a defendant in a multiparty civil case in Phillips’ court. After a September 2018 jury trial, the defendants won a verdict and attorney fees.
In November 2018, the judge swore in five new lawyers working at Ahmad Zavitsanos and then she ate lunch at a celebration at a downtown Houston restaurant, Brennan’s.
“Judge Phillips indicated that although she left the luncheon before it was over and before the table received the check, she assumed that Zavitsanos and/or his firm paid the bill,” said the warning.
The very next day, Phillips held a hearing on post-judgment motions in the civil case and later awarded $2 million in attorney fees to the defendants.
In January 2019, the plaintiffs in the case sought to recuse Phillips, but she declined to step down. Then the recusal motion was heard by another judge, who ruled that Phillips did have to get off the case.
“Judge Phillips expressed her belief that given the nature of the luncheon as a celebration of the new attorneys, the small price of her meal and the very public nature of the luncheon taking place in the open restaurant near downtown Houston that is frequented by attorneys, she did not believe anyone could reasonably view the circumstances of the swearing-in and celebratory lunch as improper,” said the warning.
The commission disagreed.
It found that the judge violated ethics rules by going to the lunch, paid for by a law firm that was in a contested case pending in her court that had been scheduled for a hearing the very next day. It was unethical for Phillips to fail to disclose the luncheon to all of the parties in the case, the commission ruled.
It determined that the judge’s behavior broke ethical rules that prohibit a judge from conveying or allowing others to convey that they can influence the judge. She broke rules that require judges to conduct extra-judicial activities in a way that doesn’t cast doubt on their ability to act impartially and that doesn’t interfere with the judge’s performance of her duties, said the warning.