The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Veteran Criminal Defense Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Tax Fraud Case

A longtime criminal defense lawyer in Baltimore who stashed more than a million dollars in two safes in his basement pleaded guilty today in federal district court in Greenbelt in a tax evasion prosecution.

The lawyer, Stanley Needleman, was licensed to practice law in Maryland for more than three decades in state and federal court, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Needleman, who had an office in downtown Baltimore, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and to a financial structuring charge in which he made deposits in increments under $10,000 to avoid having his bank file required currency transactions reports. He was charged in a two-count information in August.

Needleman, according to the terms of his plea deal (PDF), consented to disbarment. He agreed to stop practicing law Aug. 24.

Court papers disclosed that Needleman did not use an advance fee retainer agreement. Rather, he charged a one-time “engagement fee” to represent a client whether or not the case was dismissed, the client took a plea deal or the client opted for trial.

Prosecutors said Needleman’s payments were usually in full and due before the he entered an official appearance in any given case. Cash, according to prosecutors, was the most common form of payment.

D.C. Court of Appeals Suspends Arlington, Va. Attorney for Fraud

An Arlington, Va. attorney was suspended from practicing law in the District of Columbia for three years, a three-judge panel from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.

According to the opinion, Theodore Silva, Jr. committed criminal acts and intentionally lied to both his client and partner. In 2005, Silva was negotiating an easement agreement related to a commercial real estate development project and falsely told his client and partner that he had finalized the agreement. According to the opinion, Silva instead forged the documents with the intent of replacing them with genuine ones.

The ruse was discovered once his client sent the documents to lawyers of the adjacent landowners who claimed they were fraudulent. Silva then admitted his misconduct and attributed it to a cocaine addiction and other personal problems.

“I am happy this matter is finally over and I have no objection to the final ruling,” Silva said in a written statement. “My actions resulted from an extreme lack of judgment brought on by a prolonged period of alcohol and drug abuse. I am extremely sorry for my behavior.”

Silva said that he did not intend to better or worsen his or his client’s position and never intended to defraud anyone. He plans to seek reinstatement in December 2013, once he is eligible to rejoin the Bar.

“I have been clean and sober for nearly four years now, have remarried and am finally enjoying some happiness and peace in my life,” Silva said in the statement. “I will do a much better job managing my life and my practice if I am given another chance.”

This Week in The National Law Journal

Cereal Killers: Jenna Greene reports on the four federal agencies trying to curb childhood obesity. The agencies are asking manufacturers of "unhealthy" food and drinks to voluntarily cease all advertising efforts directed at children.

Stock Scam Ensnares Attorneys: Federal prosecutors in Washington allege that a California businessmen used lawyers to perform nonlegal services for illegal purposes. Mike Scarcella reports.

Lobbying for Reform: Washington lobbyists are gearing up to make their cases to Congress this fall for lobbying reform. Andrew Ramonas reports.

Making Their Mark in D.C.: A crop of law firms specializing in trademark filings has popped up in the Washington area during the past few years, and they've quickly become important players in the field. Matthew Huisman reports.

Court of Appeals Disbars Five D.C. Attorneys

The D.C. Court of Appeals handed down five disciplinary opinions Thursday, all disbarments.

David Goldstein, Michael Hadeed, Ryan Lahuti, Brian Malady and Jennifer Streaks were disbarred from the Bar of the District of Columbia, effective immediately. The court moved on the recommendations of the Board on Professional Responsibility in making the ruling.

According to court records, Hadeed was suspended from practicing law in February after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud and for “aiding and abetting the making of material false statements.”

Lahuti was disbarred after he pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

In March, Malady pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering with the intent to promote and carry on the distribution of controlled substances. In May Malady was sentenced to 24 months of imprisonment.

Goldstein and Streaks consented to disbarment, based on allegations of misconduct. The report did not go into further detail.

Washington Lawyer Issued Informal Admonition for Unethical Correspondence

Updated 4:03 p.m.

A Washington attorney has been issued an informal admonition by the District of Columbia’s Office of Bar Counsel for e-mail correspondence with an opposing client.

An investigation by the counsel, which was docketed against Anne Hovis in September 2005, found that Hovis communicated with a subject she knew to be represented by another lawyer without their permission. An informal admonition is the lowest form of public discipline the counsel can impose, often reserved for minor violations.

The ethical complaint by someone listed only as C.M. stated that Hovis contacted her via e-mail at a time when Hovis knew her to be represented by counsel. In a response to the complaint, Hovis acknowledged that the e-mail correspondence took place while she was representing Advanced Bio-Delivery LLC as in-house counsel in a dispute with C.M.

Bar Counsel Wallace “Gene” Shipp wrote in his July 13 letter that Hovis’ e-mail “denigrated C.M.’s counsel, R.R. Esquire, and then asked C.M., ‘Is this the lawyer who you want to represent you and CRM against the legal equivalent of the Dream Team?’” Shipp’s letter notes that Dream Team was bolded in the original e-mail.

Hovis also suggested that C.M. contact her husband, who was a licensed attorney in Virginia, possibly for legal advice, because “[h]e is the only thing that can prevent nuclear war.”

“It is clear from the context of the e-mail that your purpose was to persuade C.M. that she should not rely on her lawyer’s advice and instead should comply with demands you were making in your role as counsel for C.M.’s adversary,” Shipp wrote. “As such, the communication was indisputable ‘about the subject of representation.’ Thus, your conduct in this regard violated your obligations.”

Hovis said that the e-mail that sparked the complaint was not the first communication between the two women.

“We did business for a number of years, after we paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars, we came to believe that her company defrauded us,” Hovis said. “She ended up suing us and I believe that this complaint was a personal vendetta, a vindictive thing to do.”

D.C. Attorney Suspended After Double Billing Superior Court

A Washington attorney has been suspended from practicing law in the District of Columbia for a year after it was revealed that he double billed D.C. Superior Court.

Between 1999 and 2003, Harry Tun double billed the court on 162 occasions in what the court called “abysmal” record-keeping. The vouchers he submitted to the court were for “legal services rendered to indigent defendants.”

Tun cooperated with the Bar Counsel investigation and repaid the Superior Court $16,034. Because of his cooperation, the court dropped six months of Tun’s 18-month suspension. The suspension is followed by a one year probation period. Should the probation be revoked, however, the six-month stay of his suspension would be lifted.

Tun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This Week in The National Law Journal

It's All Academic: Karen Sloan reports on the expectations of some liberal special-interest groups that feel President Barack Obama hasn't nominated enough legal academics for executive and judicial positions.

The GOP Race for Top Attorneys: Mitt Romney has been the most agressive candidate in the 2012 lawyer primary. Romney has reached out to those who held top legal jobs in past administrations. David Ingram reports.

Health Reform's Antitrust Angle: Jenna Greene reports  on the antitrust tightrope walk to protect the marketplace, without deterring the formation of accountable care organizations. 

A Question of Contempt: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will decide whether it will uphold the contempt finding of the two federal prosecutors in the case against former Sen. Ted Stevens. Mike Scarcella reports.

Movie Critical of Trial Lawyers Is Set for Debut

A television movie scheduled to premier on Monday will highlight some of the most embarrassing moments of the past decade for the nation's trial lawyers.

InJustice recounts the stories of several nationally prominent members of the plaintiffs’ bar who made millions in litigation before falling from success in criminal cases. The movie, with financing help from the legal arm of the business-backed U.S. Chamber of Commerce, goes so far as to label the tactics of some plaintiffs’ lawyers a “cancer” on the nation.

The movie is set to debut two weeks after another legal documentary, the pro-plaintiff film Hot Coffee, appeared on television. The timing appears to be coincidental because both works have been years in the making, but they’re likely to serve as counterpoints for each other as trial lawyers and businesses contend for the public’s support.

InJustice is set to air at 10 p.m. on Monday on Reelz, a cable movie channel, though its creators are hoping to make it more widely available in the future.

Executive producer Brian Kelly said in an interview that he wanted to make a movie that focused on the crimes that some trial lawyers were committing as they tried to put together cases. InJustice zeroes in on Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, who made millions in tobacco litigation before being convicted in a Mississippi judicial bribery scheme, and on Milberg Weiss partners William Lerach and Melvyn Weiss, two famed securities class-action lawyers who pleaded guilty in a case about kickbacks to plaintiffs.

“If these are three of the most influential trial lawyers in the country, and they do end up in jail, what is wrong?” Kelly said.

Kelly said he knew little about those criminal cases until he began making InJustice about three years ago. Other things inspired him to pursue the project: a Reader’s Digest story about failed silicosis litigation, in which medical diagnoses were retracted after fraud allegations, and Kelly’s own experience with the legal system when he tried to evict a tenant who then sued him in Maryland state court.

“What they did successfully was just keep me in the court system. I won, but it cost me $80,000,” he said.

The movie includes clips from interviews with a handful of well-known corporate defense lawyers, including John Beisner, head of the mass torts practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Philip Howard, a partner at Covington & Burling.

Click here to see the movie’s trailer.

Senator Wants Information on AUSA Viewing Pornography at Work

An assistant U.S. attorney spent time daily viewing pornography while on the job, and the prosecutor's computer contained at least one image of child pornography, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said today, citing information from the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general.

Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was asking for further information about the prosecutor and about DOJ’s handling of the situation. The relevant U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the assistant U.S. attorney, and disciplinary action was “pending” as of May 31, according to Grassley’s office.

The assistant U.S. attorney and the location where the person has worked were not publicly identified.

Grassley wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. that the situation “appears to be an inexcusable mishandling of serious allegations” that “calls into question the DOJ’s internal controls and prosecutorial discretion.” The letter, dated today, asks Holder to provide details about the prosecutor, including whether the person is still employed and eligible for a pension.

Grassley’s letter says his office learned of the case after making a blanket request to all inspectors general for “semiannual reports on closed investigations, evaluations and audits that were not disclosed to the public.” Included in a report from the Justice Department’s inspector general was a brief description of an inquiry into the assistant U.S. attorney.

“The investigation determined that the AUSA routinely viewed adult content during official duty hours, and that there was at least one image of child pornography recovered on the AUSA’s government computer,” the description said, according to Grassley’s letter. “The AUSA acknowledged that he had spent a significant amount of time each day viewing pornography.”

A Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.

Update (7/8): A statement from DOJ says officials there are aware of the inspector general's report: "As a general practice, when there are criminal allegations of misconduct involving an assistant U.S. attorney, those matters are sent to a different office to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. The department took immediate and appropriate action in this case and the AUSA ceased working in the district in late April 2011 and left federal service in early May 2011."

Court Disbars Former DOJ Official Charged In Abramoff Scandal

The D.C. Court of Appeals today disbarred a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer who pleaded guilty in Washington federal district court to a conflict of interest violation stemming from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

Robert Coughlin II, who served as deputy chief of staff in the Criminal Division, consented to disbarment from the District of Columbia bar, the appeals court said in an order (PDF) published today.

Coughlin had been under interim suspension since June 2008. He pleaded guilty in April 2008 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of conflict of interest. Coughlin was not immediately reached for comment this morning.

Prosecutors said Coughlin acknowledged receiving gifts from former Greenberg Traurig lobbyist Kevin Ring, who was also charged in the Abramoff investigation. Ring and Coughlin were close friends, socializing regularly.

Coughlin helped Ring get a $16.3 million grant for the Chocktaw Tribe to build a jail. Coughlin received thousands of dollars in concert and sporting event tickets and restaurant trips.

“There is no question that Mr. Coughlin benefited from Ring’s generosity and made use of the perks,” lawyers for Coughlin said in court papers. “Mr. Coughlin believed that Ring, through Greenberg Traurig, had access to extra sports and concert tickets when they were available and not being used by others at the firm.”

Coughlin’s attorneys, including Joshua Berman, now a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman, said in court papers that “over time Kevin Ring took advantage of their friendship. In a sad twist of fate, Mr. Coughlin’s greatest attribute—his trust in and dedication to friends—became his undoing.”