Attorney Grievance Commission v. Smith

McDonald, J. The Attorney Grievance Commission (“Commission”) charged Darlene H. Smith with violating several provisions of ²³² the Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct (“MLRPC”), including MLRPC 5.5(a) (unauthorized practice of law in another jurisdiction), MLRPC 8.4(a) (misconduct involving a violation of the rules), MLRPC 8.4(c) (misconduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation), and MLRPC 8.4(d) (misconduct prejudicial to the administration of justice). Pursuant to Maryland Rule 16-752, we referred the matter to Judge Philip T. Caroom of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County for hearing and determination. Judge Caroom concluded that Ms. Smith did not engage in the unauthorized practice of law but that she did violate the other rules cited by the Commission. No exceptions were filed to Judge Caroom’s findings and conclusions.

A hearing on those findings and conclusions was scheduled before this Court on February 2, 2012. Ms. Smith failed to appear and we disbarred her in a per curiam order that same day. We now explain why. Background Ms. Smith was admitted to the Maryland Bar in June 1997. 1 She has also been admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Ms. Smith initially worked as a judicial clerk for the Chief Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. She subsequently practiced law at a number of firms in the District of Columbia and Maryland, including as a solo practitioner, before settling at the District of Columbia office of Drinker Biddle & Reath in mid-December 2008. Although she had practiced law for more than 10 years, largely in offices located in the District of Columbia, Ms. Smith had never been admitted to the District of Columbia Bar. ²³³ The rules governing the practice of law in the District of Columbia (“D.C. Rules”) allow lawyers not admitted to the District of Columbia Bar to practice law in some circumstances so long as the attorney makes certain public disclosures about the attorney’s bar status. In particular, an attorney admitted in another state may practice in the District of Columbia for 360 days, provided, among other things, that the attorney’s practice is directly supervised by a member of the District of Columbia Bar, that the attorney applies for admission to the District of Columbia Bar within 90 days after commencing practice in the District of Columbia, and that there is notice to the public of the attorney’s bar status.

D.C. Rule 49(c)(8). Another provision of the D.C. rules allows an attorney located in the District of Columbia to provide legal services in federal court or federal agency proceedings if admitted to practice before the federal court or agency and if the attorney “gives prominent notice in all business documents of the practitioner’s bar status and that his or her practice is limited....” D.C. Rule 49(c)(2). In January 2009, Ms. Smith applied for “Admission Without Examination” to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Committee on Admissions (“Admissions Committee”). On October 20, 2009, the Admissions Committee wrote to Ms. Smith and asked her to explain (1) why she had delayed seeking admission for such a long period of time and (2) whether she had complied with the requirements of D.C.Rule 49 and the related advisory opinions of the District of Columbia Committee on Unauthorized Practice of Law.

Ms. Smith responded in a letter dated December 8, 2009. In that letter Ms. Smith stated that her law practice had been an “exclusively federal practice” and that “[m]y business cards, correspondence written on firm letterhead, and promotional materials provided the appropriate notice that my admission to the bar was only in Maryland and that I limited myself to a federal practice.” She enclosed promotional materials and other documents identified as “redacted copies of ²³⁴ correspondence from my current and previous law firms.” The enclosures purported to document the assertions in her letter and included legends stating that Ms. Smith had been admitted only in Maryland and that she limited herself to federal practice. In fact, those disclosures did not appear on the original versions of many of those documents, but had been added by Ms. Smith shortly before she submitted them to the Admissions Committee. In January 2010, Ms. Smith met with the General Counsel of Drinker Biddle & Reath to discuss her application.

Following that meeting, Ms. Smith wrote to the Admissions Committee on February 5, 2010, and admitted altering many of the documents she had enclosed with her December 8, 2009, letter. Specifically, she acknowledged that she had altered copies of her past correspondence written on Drinker Biddle & Reath stationery, to add the legends “admitted only in Maryland” and “practice limited to matters and proceedings before federal courts and agencies,” and had similarly altered the samples of correspondence she had submitted from three other law firms where she had practiced before joining Drinker Biddle & Reath. Based on these facts, Judge Caroom concluded that Ms. Smith had violated MLRPC 8.4(a), (c) and (d) (misconduct) by deliberately altering documents submitted in support of her District of Columbia Bar application. He reasoned that the deliberate alteration of the exhibits she submitted to the Admissions Committee indicated that she knew she had failed to comply with the disclosure requirements of D.C. Rule 49 and that she was attempting to conceal her failure to comply.

He concluded, however, that Ms. Smith did not violate MLRPC 5.5(a) (unauthorized practice of law in another jurisdiction) because (a) the use of an