Spartanburg attorney publicly reprimanded

Attorney: N. Douglas Brannon

Location: Spartanburg

Bar membership: Member since 2001

Disciplinary action: Publicly reprimanded on Dec. 18

Background: Brannon was retained to represent a client in a post-conviction relief action. Brannon told the client and his grandfather that no action would be taken on the matter until Brannon’s fee was paid in full. The grandfather paid the agreed-upon fee in two installments, but due to a clerical error in Brannon’s office, he was not notified that the fee had been paid, and the petition for PCR was dismissed for being untimely. (Upon receipt of the final order, Brannon met with the client, explained the error, refunded the entire fee, and assisted the client with retaining new counsel for the representation.) At times during the representation, Brannon failed to adequately communicate with the client regarding the status of the case. Separately, Brannon appeared on behalf of both a husband and wife at a hearing in a domestic matter, and in doing so created a concurrent conflict of interest.

Previous discipline: None