Disbarred Before Barred

An attorney admitted in Virginia and the District of Columbia has an application pending for Maryland admission.

Unfortunately, the Maryland Court of Appeals has disbarred her before they barred her.

This attorney disciplinary proceeding involves a lawyer, unlicensed to practice law in the state of Maryland, assuming the role of “Managing Attorney” in a Maryland law firm and meeting with clients in the firm’s Maryland office.

The misconduct involved unauthorized practice that led to a laundry list of ethics violations.

Not only did the hearing judge make no findings as to mitigation, but, as Petitioner points out, Respondent engaged in a variety of misconduct. Respondent’s misconduct stems from her ineffective supervision of the firm’s attorney trust account and her engagement in the unauthorized practice of law in Maryland. Although Respondent maintains that her misconduct was unintentional, in some instances her misconduct led to harmful consequences to clients, and that harm was not remedied. By inadequately supervising the attorney trust account, Respondent harmed clients in failing to ensure that unearned attorneys’ fees were being held in trust, and by failing to issue refunds when work was not performed. In addition, though Respondent signed retainer agreements promising services to clients and initial letters on behalf of clients in furtherance of those promised services, several clients’ matters were either not completed or not undertaken at all.

Finally, one crucial feature of the instant case is Respondent’s role as “Managing Attorney.” When an attorney engages in managerial conduct like Respondent’s, from which a reasonable client could conclude that the attorney is in some real way responsible for the client’s matter and the legal matters of the firm generally, then that attorney has adopted a significant set of responsibilities. That Respondent took no reasonable steps to ensure that client matters were handled correctly is a serious violation. As noted, in cases involving the unauthorized practice of law, one of the factors we consider is deterrence. Here the misconduct evolved from an arrangement between an unlicensed attorney and a nonlawyer, whereby the unlicensed attorney agreed to manage a law firm for the nonlawyer. Although the primary duties and responsibilities of the unlicensed lawyer related to the management of the law firm’s attorney trust accounts, Respondent’s ineffective management led to the firm’s deposit of unearned client fees into the firm’s operating account before performing any meaningful client services. Taking all of this into account, the appropriate sanction is disbarment.

Judge McDonald would suspend rather than disbar. (Mike Frisch)