Maryland Lawyer Suspended for 60 Days For Professional Misconduct

In In re Tanko, 408 Md. 404 (M.D. 2009), the Maryland Appeals Court suspended a lawyer for 60 days for the professional misconduct of handling a clients expungement petition case. The petitioner also tried to prove miscount because the respondent applied for a duplicate license within four days of the police taking it away.

The Maryland Appeals Court affirmed the conclusions that the lawyer was negligent and misunderstood the case law and statutory law as it applied to his client, Mr. Short, Rule 3.3 and 8.4 [(d)]. As to the license, the Court finds that respondent did not violate the Rules of Professional Conduct. The Court finds the evidence to be in equal balance.

The lawyer knew he had to wait until three years has passed since his client’s disposition to file expungement petitions. Even though he knew of the waiting period, he filed one of the client’s petitions in Circuit Court, where it was denied, and two more petitions in District Court which were also denied. The lawyer admitted to the Commission that the clerks in Anne Arundel County’s Circuit Court refused to accept the expungement petition because it had not been three years since the entry of probation before judgment in this client’s matter.
This case teaches the importance of the lawyer’s duty under Rule 3.3, Candor Toward the Tribunal and 8.4[(d)], Misconduct, [by engaging] in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice, due in part by his misunderstanding of the relevant case and statutory law.