Sneaky Young Lawyer Gets Bagged For Allegedly Doctoring Court Document Used To Slam Brakes On Foreclosure Sale; Gets Away With Judicial Hand Slap, No Criminal Charges After Receiving Admonition On His 5th Amendment Rights

In San Antonio, Texas, the San Antonio Express-News reports:

• A San Antonio associate with the white-shoe law firm Jackson Walker LLP found himself in quite the predicament Wednesday, accused of doctoring a court document that was then used to stop a scheduled foreclosure sale on a $1.5 million home in Houston.
  
  On the witness stand during a civil hearing in state District Judge Stephani Walsh’s courtroom, Jackson Walker attorney Matthew Vandenberg denied he would file a “fraudulent” document because of signs posted in the Bexar County District Clerk’s office that warn that doing so is a crime.
  
  Just before breaking for lunch, Walsh advised Vandenberg that he might want to speak with the two other Jackson Walker lawyers in the courtroom about his Fifth Amendment rights, which protect a witness against self-incrimination.
  
  Walsh then called the lawyers arguing the matter into her chambers. What was said was not disclosed in court.
  
  When the parties reconvened in court after lunch, though, the proceeding came to an abrupt and peculiar end.
  
  Jackson Walker lawyer Scott McElhaney and opposing counsel David Lopez presented an agreed order to Walsh saying they had resolved their dispute. Walsh signed the order, which essentially cancels a court filing that was used to halt the foreclosure. Lopez’s firm, Pulman, Cappuccio, Pullen, Benson & Jones LLP of San Antonio, also was awarded sanctions — $15,325 to cover its attorney’s fees and the cost of posting the Houston house for foreclosure again. Lopez had asked for $8,875 in his motion for sanctions.
  
  After noting that her comments were off the record, Walsh proceeded to admonish McElhaney, a partner in Jackson Walker’s Dallas office.
  
  “Do not send a young four-year lawyer down here to do your work,” Walsh said, referring to Vandenberg. “It could make him not want to practice law anymore.”
  
  Vandenberg was not in the courtroom to hear the judge’s remarks. [...]

For more, see San Antonio lawyer accused of tampering with court document (Judge scolds his superior as case comes to quick end).