A Maryland-based attorney has been suspended from practicing law in the District of Columbia for one year after she failed to disclose a prior suspension.
The order, handed down Thursday in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals by a three-judge panel, determined that Michelle Davy failed to disclose her suspension when she resigned and later applied for reinstatement to the District of Columbia Bar.
From 2002 to 2003, 10 complainants filed grievences against Davy with the Attorney Greivance Commission of Maryland, related to allegations that she “failed to act with diligence,” among other charges. The commission found that Davy had violated the Maryland Rule of Professional Conduct and suspended her for one year.
At the same time the grievances were pending in Maryland, Davy submitted a letter of resignation to the D.C. bar but did not disclose the pending allegations. After she was reinstated to the Maryland Bar in 2004, Davy reapplied to the D.C. Bar but failed to disclose her suspension. After Davy’s suspension came to light, the D.C. Bar moved to institute reciprocal discipline.
“To implement reciprocal discipline in this case would allow those seeking representation in the District of Columbia to be aware of the respondent’s prior negligence in client matters. In doing so, we protect the public and maintain the integrity of the District of Columbia Bar,” Associate Judges Anna Blackburne-Rigsby and Kathryn A. Oberly and Senior Judge John M. Steadman wrote in an opinion. “Had respondent disclosed the pending grievances against her in her resignation letter to the District of Columbia Bar, she likely would have been reciprocally disciplined concurrently with the Maryland suspension.”
Davy could not immediately be reached for comment.
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