Convicted Attorney Throws In Towel

The District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility has approved and forwarded to the Court of Appeals a motion for consent disbarment of an attorney convicted of criminal conflict of interest charges.

Gazette.net had this report:

A Potomac lawyer faces up to 10 years in jail after he pleaded guilty Monday to criminal conflict of interest and filing a false disclosure form when he worked as both a legal counsel for the federal government and a representative of a foreign corporation trying to sell military hardware to the U.S. Army, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District Court of Maryland.

Jeffrey Ross Williams, 51, of Potomac was charged in December for earning money from an unnamed company lobbying to supply the U.S. Army while employed as an attorney with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a Bethesda-based a federal agency.

Williams held a dual position with the commission as an assistant general counsel for enforcement and information and assistant general counsel for regulatory affairs, between 2005 and 2008, according to his plea entered in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. The Consumer Product Safety Commission tests and reports on the safety of products such as toys, power tools and household chemicals.

Williams earned an $8,000 per month retainer through the Washington-D.C. based law firm he founded, Williams Law Firm, PLLC, which represented the foreign company in 2006 while it tried to reach an agreement with the U.S. Army to supply it with batteries for armored personnel vehicles, wrote U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein in a Dec. 13 outline of charges.

As a federal employee, Williams was required to disclose his position with the foreign company and the income he earned, U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman Marcia Murphy wrote in a statement.

Williams pleaded guilty to both counts. He was not indicted for either charge.

In a statement, Williams’ attorney, Peter Fayne of the Riverdale firm of Rosenberg & Fayne, LLP wrote his client hopes to move past these violations after sentencing.

“Mr. Williams deeply regrets his actions but he has attempted to correct his misjudgment and acknowledged the mistake he made,” he wrote.

Williams faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, on each of the two counts. He sentencing is scheduled for June 13.

The board had sent the matter to a hearing committee to determine if the offense involved moral turpitude on the facts. The consent rendered the inquiry moot. (Mike Frisch)