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.

Ex-Lobbyist Wants 'Trial Penalty' Document Unsealed

A former lobbyist caught up in Jack Abramoff scandal has asked a federal judge to unseal government records to shed light on the "trial penalty"—the premium the government seeks to extract from defendants who exercise their right to trial instead of taking a plea offer.

Kevin Ring, sentenced earlier to 20 months in prison, has asked the federal district court in Washington to release portions of a government PowerPoint presentation given to him as part of pre-indictment dealings in 2008.

Back then, the government required the document to be kept secret, presumably to protect the secrecy of the government's then-continuing investigation into the Abramoff matter, according to Ring's attorneys, Andrew Wise and Timothy O'Toole of Miller & Chevalier in Washington.

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.

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.

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.

House Committee Approves Bill on 'Frivolous' Lawsuits

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee moved forward Wednesday, over the objection of Democrats, on a bill aimed at reducing "frivolous" lawsuits.

The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013, which the committee passed 17-10, would bring back four key sanctions provisions in Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Critics say the legislation would make the judicial system even more litigious and costly.

The bill would require judges to impose monetary sanctions against lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits and require any sanction go to the defendant’s attorney fees and costs. It also would allow judges to impose additional sanctions, and it would eliminate the 21-day period for parties to avoid sanctions by withdrawing claims.

Federal Prosecutor Disciplined for Making False Statements

Earlier this summer, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Snyder received an informal admonition from the D.C. Office of Bar Counsel. He was accused of making false statements to a judge in the early stages of a group of murder and obstruction of justice prosecutions. It's an outcome one defense lawyer involved in the cases called "ludicrous," given a judge's earlier findings that Snyder committed other serious ethics violations.

Bar counsel found Snyder violated the rules of professional responsibility by telling a judge he didn't know of any psychiatric conditions related to a key government witness. In fact, bar counsel said, Snyder hadn't searched the witness' juvenile records, which he knew existed, and was aware of other information about the witness' mental health. An informal admonition is the lightest form of discipline available.

Paul Riley, a Washington solo practitioner who represented a defendant in one of the cases at issue, said the admonition was "ludicrous." Snyder's handling of the mental health records was a minor issue, he said, especially when compared to disclosure violations that a judge found Snyder committed in a related case. Riley said he wasn't involved in filing a complaint with bar counsel.

Imprisoned Lawyer in Fraud Case Sues DOJ for Documents

A lawyer serving 23 years in prison for fraud is suing the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies over the rejection of his requests for documents related to his case.

A federal jury in North Carolina found Gregory Bartko, formerly an Atlanta-based securities lawyer, guilty in November 2010 of conspiracy, mail fraud and selling unregistered securities. In April 2012, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. According to his complaint, filed in Washington federal district court on July 26, he's serving time at the Yazoo Federal Correctional Institution in Yazoo City, Miss. An appeal of the verdict is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

In the two years since sentencing, Bartko said he made a series of requests under the Freedom of Information Act for documents about his case from the Justice Department, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Bartko claimed that with the exception of 36 redacted pages, the agencies failed to produce any records.