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Licensed Professional Counselors

Texas Board Defense for Licensed Professional Counselors

Licensed Professional Counselors

Licensed professional counselors dedicate their careers to helping others, and serve as a critical resource in promoting mental and emotional well-being, preventing crises, and fostering healthier, more resilient individuals and communities. It can be especially distressing for them when they face accusations or legal challenges that might impede their capacity to fulfill their professional responsibilities.

The Phan Law Firm, P.C., is devoted to defending nurses, whether they are licensed vocational nurses, registered nurses, and/or advanced practice nurses, with respect to complaints that affect their licenses.
To address your specific requirements and consult a previous Assistant General Counsel of the Texas Board of Nursing (BON), please contact us online or call (512) 524-1620 today.

 

Understanding the Board Complaint Process

The Board Complaint and Investigatory Process

Once a Board complaint is received from the originating source and the Board, depending on the type of violation(s) involved, opens up an investigation against the licensed professional counselor, a complaint letter is prepared and sent to the licensed professional counselor’s last known address on file at the Board. The Board complaint letter outlines the allegations and provides cursory information and notice to the licensed professional counselor. The Board will then inform the licensed professional counselor in this communication that he or she must respond to the Board and respond specifically with an explanation to every allegation contained in the letter. The Board will also advise, in the letter, that the licensed professional counselor must respond with an explanation by an internally determined date (i.e., not statutory or rule), usually thirty days from the date of the letter and not the date the letter was received. Read more>>

Written Notification from TSBEPC

Licensed Professional Counsels are regulated by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. This group of licensees falls under a general umbrella agency, the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Board, which also oversees separate licensees such as social workers (Texas State Board of Social Workers), marriage and family therapists (Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists), psychologists (Texas State Board of Psychologists). Read more>>

Do I Need to Hire an Attorney? What Type of Attorney Should I Hire?

At the Phan Law Firm, P.C., our attorney, Phong Phan, was the former in-house attorney at two different state licensing agencies that regulated health professionals, the Texas Board of Nursing (nurses) and the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (dentists, dental hygienists). Mr. Phan, during his time as an in-house attorney at these different licensing agencies, worked closely with the Board’s Directors of Enforcement, Executive Directors, Board members, and on a daily basis with the investigatory staff and advised the staff regarding all types of disciplinary cases and practice violations in all kinds of settings. Read more>>

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Experience Matters

With over 15 years of professional license defense experience, Phong Phan, Esq. has an intimate understanding of the board complaint process, disciplinary proceedings, licensure issues, and SOAH contested case hearings.

In private practice for the last few decades, Mr. Phan has focused his practice exclusively on defending licensed professional counselors and similar other health-related professionals against Board complaints and disciplinary proceedings and has assisted applicants seeking licensure in the State of Texas to achieve their lifelong goal of being a licensed professional counselor.

The process is daunting, and each step requires an attorney who can shepherd a licensed professional counselor through that process and provide sound, reflective legal advice at each step of the way so that the licensed professional counselor is in the best position to understand the consequences of each action and make the best-informed decision for him or her depending on his or her unique facts.

The LPC must be advised and understand whether the Board, considering these same unique facts, can bear its burden and establish discipline against the licensed professional counselor under the statute and its rules. Licensed professional counselors often feel a great burden when faced with a board complaint, unsure as to how to carry themselves for their other clients and facing the possibility of discipline impacting their practice. The Phan Law Firm, P.C., fully understands this.

Candidly, the decision to hire an attorney is a critical and important one that is not to be taken lightly. Given the years of education and training of a licensed professional counselor, the firm expects that each potential licensed professional counselor-client will continue to do his or her due diligence in researching an attorney and finding an attorney and firm that can best obtain the right result for him or her. Thus, one of the key considerations, the firm believes, is whether that attorney has experience with the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors and has defended licensed professional counselors before the Board. The Phan Law Firm, P.C., is this firm.

Reviews

D. N.

Nurse
Jan 3, 2019

If there is a way, Mr. Phan will find it!

Mr. Phan is a fighter! He never gives up on a case, and if there is a way, he will find it!

S. D.

Nurse
Jan 9, 2022

A Big Win for a Tough Case

I am a registered nurse; Mr. Phan helped me out with a very serious issue with the Texas Board of Nursing. A former patient reported me to the management of the hospital where I was working. Management forwarded the complaint to the Texas Board of Nursing, and boundary/ HIPPA violations were filed against me.
After two long years, my options appeared limited, and the likelihood of a satisfactory resolution seemed nigh on impossible, but Mr. Phan got me sorted out. He fought the board so hard from emergency revocation/voluntary surrender to probation with remedial classes. A big win. I am very grateful for Mr. Phan’s service, and I recommend him for tough cases.

D.C.

Nurse
Mar 8, 2024

Hire them, seriously – you will not regret it. Complete dismissal.

Phong is incredibly smart and talented and knows exactly how the Board operates and what to do. In my initial search, I had signed on with The Bertolino Group, and they majorly screwed up my case and charged me outrageous amounts of money to do so. Once I saw all the mistakes that they submitted to the board, I quickly canceled with them and talked to Mr. Phan. He was so gracious and apologized for the unprofessionalism of my previous counsel. He got straight to work on my case and corrected all the errors that the Bertolino Group made.
His counsel was beyond wise, and I finally felt like I was being defended by someone who not only cared but also knew exactly what to do, how the board thought, and how to react.
The board didn’t look at my case for over 2 1/2 years [talk about stress], and Phong encouraged me to be patient, so I was. When they finally reviewed my case, they dismissed it!
Phong and Sarah stayed in contact with me about my case and were straightforward with their pricing. I never got billed for nonsense or unexpected things like I did with the Bertolino Group. They are honest and incredible at their jobs!
Hire them, seriously – you will not regret it. Even if my case had turned out differently, I felt confident the entire time that Phong was fighting my case as if it were his own. I never felt that way with the Bertolino Group.
The hardest part about picking a law firm to help defend you is not knowing if you can actually trust them to fight hard and smart for your case. You can trust The Phan Law Firm. Phong tells it like it is, doesn’t waste time, is concise and methodical, and his firm is transparent. He has your back.