The latest in a series of negative stories about Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory takes aim at possible ethics violations concerning a new law practice started after he took office.

According to The Advertiser, Guillory was under pressure to close his existing law firm before taking office. Instead, the paper says, he launched a new firm.

The first-term mayor-president was under pressure to close his law practice after winning the election in November 2019, since Lafayette's Home Rule Charter prohibits mayor-presidents from "any activity unrelated to (local government) business that would interfere with or detract from the performance of duties.”

Instead, he launched a new firm, Acadiana Family Law, shortly after winning and moved the location of his old firm, The Law Office of Joshua S. Guillory, to a different office.

According to the report, Guillory filed a suit to expunge a client's 2014 arrest from his record. That suit was filed on August 11, the day Guillory said he returned from rehab for alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Along with expungements, Guillory has also worked on at least one succession case.

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The filing of the suit isn't the problem, though, according to the piece at The Advertiser. Instead, it's the fact that this new law firm, Acadiana Family Law, hasn't been disclosed to the Louisiana Board of Ethics that could be an issue.

"For public offices like Guillory’s," the story reads, "officials are required to list any businesses they and their spouse own a combined 10% or more of, as well as any income they receive from those businesses, on their annual financial disclosures."

"Guillory did that in 2019 and 2020 for his original law office and his wife’s counseling company, reporting a combined income of between $5,000 and $24,999 from those two operations in 2020," it adds.

Guillory has pushed back against the recent crop of stories about his multiple side jobs, which include teaching classes at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. He spoke at length about his time in rehab and accusation of impropriety on Acadiana's Morning News here on KPEL.

Guillory told KPEL "It's not unfair to ask these questions if you're a journalist," in his weekly "Lafayette Live" segment. But he did accuse other media outlets of pursuing "sensationalism" because "drama sells."

KPEL reached out Lafayette Consolidated Government spokesman Jamie Angelle for comment, but he declined because the issue is outside the scope of LCG operations.

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