Lawyer blasted by judge for conduct in Chevron case should get his law license back, ethics referee
BY DEBRA CASSENS WEISS
The referee, John Horan, said in a Feb. 24 report that lawyer Steven Donziger’s interim suspension should be ended, and he should be allowed to resume the practice of law. The case goes to a New York appeals court, which will decide whether to accept the recommendation.
Disbarment “impresses me as too extreme,” Horan said. “Nor do I think there are precedents which control. There appears to be no case like this.”
The $9.5 billion Ecuador judgment was based on allegations that Texaco, a company acquired by Chevron, had caused environmental damages in Ecuador’s Lago Agrio region through oil exploration work.