Effort At Admission By Motion Ends With Disbarment

The Maryland Court of Appeals has disbarred an attorney admitted in 1997. The misconduct involved the attorney’s dishonesty in connection with her efforts to waive into the District of Columbia Bar.

In the D.C. admission, questions arose concerning the attorney’s compliance with the rule governing unauthorized practice in the District. The attorney sought advice from the general counsel of her law firm (Drinker Biddle) and then admitted that she had submitted false documents.

The court:

[The attorney] has stipulated that she fabricated exhibits to her [D.C.] bar application to advance her misrepresentations to the Admissions Committee concerning her compliance with D.C. Rule 49 – actions that involve dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation. An applicant’s fabrication of evidence designed to mislead a bar examiner is prejudicial to the administration of the laws governing the practice of law.

Further:

[The] misconduct was not a reflexive exculpatory statement of one unexpectedly confronted with a misdeed. Rather, it was a carefully contrived effort that required a detailed alteration of samples of her past correspondence spanning more than a decade and several law firms.

(Mike Frisch)