A Chattanooga lawyer has been hit with a one-year suspension for failing to “properly administer and close an estate,” according to a press release.
But Robert P. Rayburn already was disbarred for five years by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Along with the suspension, he was ordered by the Supreme Court to pay the expenses and costs “of the disciplinary proceedings against him,” according to a release sent today from the court.
The suspension will take place while Rayburn is disbarred, said Nancy Jones, the Supreme Court’s chief disciplinary council. Once those five years are over, Rayburn must petition the state to be allowed to practice again, she said.
The fact that Rayburn was suspended after being disbarred is simply a matter of timing, she said. The petitions for suspension and disbarring both were filed last year, she said, and “one of them got through the process faster than the other one.”
The ruling that disbarred him was issued in December 2009.
“It’s just the timing of the process,” she said.