Less than a week after being sworn in as Harris County’s district attorney, Sean Teare came under fire following revelations that his law license was suspended for failing to complete the Minimum Continuing Legal Education requirements.
Democrat Sean Teare was sworn in as the district attorney for Harris County just after midnight on January 1. He won the position after defeating incumbent Kim Ogg, a Democrat, in the early 2024 primaries and narrowly edging out Republican challenger Dan Simons in the November general election with 50.82 percent of the vote.
During his campaign, Teare focused on key issues such as fighting for abortion, advocating for “common sense gun safety laws,” providing second chances for convicted criminals, reforming the cash bail system, addressing the criminal court backlog, and pursuing justice for survivors of domestic violence. His campaign garnered notable endorsements from George Soros, Planned Parenthood, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO.
Last Thursday, Teare recused himself from a high-profile corruption investigation case against Lina Hidalgo’s former staffers initially opened by Kim Ogg and later handed off to Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In a news release, he stated:
For years, the worst kind of politics has marred the investigation and orderly administration of justice of these cases. Despite never having been involved in the prosecution or defense of any of these staffers, our community deserves a DA who not only removes politics from the prosecution of any criminal case, but who will also bend over backwards to avoid even the appearance of any conflict of interest. My hope is that moving forward, these cases will be adjudicated quickly, fairly, and with integrity.
However, just five days after taking office, it was revealed that Teare was listed as ineligible to practice law in Texas according to the State Bar’s website. The website also listed the reason as a failure to comply with the MCLE requirements.
It is unclear how long he’d been ineligible to practice law, but around 9:30 a.m., the State Bar’s website was updated to indicate that Teare was once again eligible to practice law in Texas. However, critics point out that resolving such issues on the website can be as simple as self-reporting compliance, without necessarily addressing the underlying causes of the suspension.
Courtney Fischer, chief of communications for the Harris County DA’s office, told Texas Scorecard, “DA Teare is not ineligible to practice law in the State of Texas. An outstanding fee Sean hadn’t realized needed to be paid caused an administrative hiccup that happened towards the end of 2024. Last year, Teare was late to finish two of his required Continuing Legal Education (CLE) hours. He completed the hours and had no idea there was a late fee associated with this. Teare paid the late fee as soon as he learned of it, on January 4, 2025, a Saturday. As you’ll see on the Texas Bar site, Sean’s status is ‘eligible.’ This current status is retroactive, according to the State Bar—meaning, again, he was not ineligible.”
