The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Disciplinary Suspensions Mount Against D.C.-Area Attorney

A local attorney has been suspended from practicing in the District of Columbia and Maryland for the second time since 2009 for breaking attorney ethics rules.

Garland Stillwell was first suspended in 2009 for misrepresenting his title at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, where he was formerly an associate. On Dec. 26, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ordered Stillwell suspended following his suspension earlier this year in Maryland for mismanaging client funds and other misconduct.

Stillwell faced a series of disciplinary actions from high courts in Maryland and the District beginning in 2009. The D.C. Court of Appeals initially suspended Stillwell for 60 days in 2009 for misrepresenting his employment status at Pillsbury. Stillwell told clients he was senior counsel at the firm, as opposed to an associate.

DOJ Lawyer Disciplined for Lapsed Bar Membership

From 1990 to 2011, a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer practiced law without an active bar membership, according to a letter issued last month by District of Columbia attorney disciplinary officials.

Laura Heiser received an informal admonition—the least severe form of disciplinary action—for failing to maintain an active law license and giving false information to the Justice Department about her status with the D.C. Bar.

Heiser was a lawyer with the Justice Department from September 1986 through January 2013, according to the department. The letter from the Office of Bar Counsel indicated she worked in the Antitrust Division. Her membership with the Ohio bar lapsed in 1989, according to the letter, and she became an inactive member of the D.C. Bar in 1990.

Attorney Ethics Complaints in D.C. On the Rise in 2013

The Office of Bar Counsel is on track to receive more attorney ethics complaints in 2013 than it did in 2012, especially related to criminal cases.

According to the latest bar counsel statistics, the office received 1,090 complaints as of Nov. 13, up from 1,021 complaints received by the same time in 2012. There were a total of 1,081 complaints received by bar counsel in 2012.

Bar counsel officials said they weren't sure what accounted for the increase in complaints this year. "There's nothing in particular that we know of at this point," said Deputy Bar Counsel Elizabeth Herman.

State Bar Investigates Former Office of Special Counsel Chief

The State Bar of California is investigating possible ethics violations against Scott Bloch, who led the Office of Special Counsel during the George W. Bush administration, court records in Washington show.

The pending disciplinary proceeding, which began in August, is rooted in Bloch's effort to erase files on government-issued computers in his office, according to court records filed on Dec. 19 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Bloch pleaded guilty in February to the misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property. In June, U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins sentenced him to two years' probation and to spend one day in jail.

At the time of the computer files erasure in 2007, the inspector general of the federal Office of Personnel Management was investigating Bloch over claims he retaliated against employees in his office. Wilkins in court questioned Bloch's position that he ordered computers wiped amid a concern about viruses.

Lawyer Convicted in Insider Trading Scheme Disbarred

Matthew Kluger, a former law firm associate convicted in a 17-year, multimillion-dollar insider trading scheme, was disbarred today in the District of Columbia.

Kluger is serving 12 years in jail after pleading guilty to passing along nonpublic information about business deals he gleaned from his job at some of the nation's biggest law firms. Kluger, disbarred in New York in January, didn't contest his disbarment in Washington.

The D.C. Court of Appeals based its decision to disbar Kluger on his conviction for obstruction of justice, finding it was a "crime of moral turpitude" that required immediate disbarment. Kluger also pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges.

Board Recommends Disbarment for Lawyer For Fraud Conviction

An attorney discipline board in Washington is recommending Daryl Hudson III, the head of a debt financing company in Washington and former counsel with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, be disbarred over his wire fraud conviction.

The Board on Professional Responsibility earlier this month recommended disbarment. Hudson was convicted of a crime of "moral turpitude," the board said, warranting automatic disbarment—if the conviction survives appeal.

A federal jury in New Mexico found Hudson guilty of wire fraud in September 2012. Hudson is serving a 70-month sentence in prison. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is not expected to rule on Hudson's status with the D.C. Bar until his appeal wraps up.

Lawyer Disciplined for Advising Non-Client in Murder Case

A local criminal defense lawyer was recently disciplined for misconduct for the second time since 2011.

Harry Tun received an informal admonition—the least serious sanction possible—for giving legal advice to a person who wasn't his client. The Oct. 10 admonition came two years after Tun was temporarily suspended for double billing the District of Columbia Superior Court for his representation of indigent defendants.

Tun, a solo practitioner and member of the D.C. Bar since 1988, could not immediately be reached today for comment.

D.C. Divorce Lawyer Disbarred

Glenn Lewis, a one-time prominent member of the Washington-area divorce bar, was disbarred yesterday. The order comes several months after the Virginia State Bar stripped him of his law license.

The Virginia disciplinary board found Lewis took fees from clients without doing work he was hired for, mishandled client funds and failed to keep required financial records, among other charges. The Virginia State Bar revoked his license in May.

On October 17, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals disbarred Lewis, citing the Virginia decision. According to yesterday's order, Lewis did not respond to a previous court order asking him why it shouldn't disbar him.

The Morning Wrap

Foiled: "The National Security Agency is winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications in the Internet age, according to newly disclosed documents," The New York Times reports. In other surveillance news: The Justice Department is planning to release hundreds of pages of documents, including Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions. POLITICO has this report on the government's plan.

Scanned: From today's Recorder, a report on Google's defense of email snooping. "As lawyers for Google Inc. fought to dismiss a spate of privacy claims, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh pressed them to explain how scanning messages sent through Gmail to target advertisements falls under the company's "ordinary course of business" as an email provider," according to the report. The Los Angeles Times has more on the story here.

Streamed: A Washington federal trial judge late Thursday handed an early victory to major network broadcasters in their fight against a service that provides streaming television online. The BLT has this report. More here in Reuters. Read the judge's ruling here.

Snapped: The authorities have charged a man with voyeurism for a series of photos he took at the Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Post reports. The defendant reportedly told police he didn't think taking photos of underwear was illegal.

The Morning Wrap

Smartphone wars: Lawyers for Apple and Samsung are set to face off this morning in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a long-running fight over patents, The Wall Street Journal reports. "The companies will argue before a federal appeals court in Washington over whether a lower court erred last year when it allowed Samsung to continue selling more than two dozen products after a jury found they infringed several Apple patents," the Journal reported. The Am Law Litigation Daily has this piece: "Apple, Samsung Gird for Showdown on Smartphone Injunctions." The National Law Journal's Zoe Tillman will cover oral argument, scheduled for 10 a.m.

Settling: The New York Times reports today: "Federal regulators are seeking to level civil charges against JPMorgan Chase and extract a rare admission of wrongdoing from the nation’s biggest bank as an investigation into a multibillion-dollar trading loss enters its final stage." The Washington Post has this story: "SEC seeks admission of wrongdoing from JPMorgan in ‘London Whale’ case."

Watching: Prosecutors said yesterday in a terror case in Chicago that the government will not use evidence of expanded surveillance, the Associated Press reports. The defense said they believe expanded surveillance was used; the attorneys want to challenge the constitutionality. “The NSA is giving the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office marching orders to avoid a constitutional challenge at all cost," the defense lawyer in the case said. The government's six-page filing is here. In other NSA news, today's Washington Post has this story: "NSA cites case as success of phone-data collection program."

High prayer: "The Obama administration and congressional Republicans have found something to agree on: Town councils should be allowed to open their meetings with a Christian prayer." The Los Angeles Times has this report today on the administration's support, in a U.S. Supreme Court case, for prayer at local government meetings.