The 2014 to 2015 Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission’s Annual Report has just been published. Attorney Grievance Commission During the 2015 fiscal year, 44 Maryland attorneys were disbarred, 33 were suspended, 8 were reprimanded by the Court of Appeals, and 24 were reprimanded by the AGC. Montgomery County led Maryland with 69 docket cases.
The report contains summaries of all the attorneys who were disciplined. Dennis Alan Van Dusen set the record for the shortest amount of time between being licensed as a Maryland attorney and being disbarred. He was admitted to the Bar on November 1, 2012. Six weeks later, he was criminally charged with 15 counts of surreptitious viewing and video recording of his female tenants; and he pled guilty on April 16, 2013 to 3 counts of visual surveillance of individuals in a private place without consent. He was disbarred on May 8, 2015.
Mark T. Mixter was disbarred for his flagrant abuse of the discovery process, including issuing and trying to enforce invalid subpoenas, intimidating witnesses, and generally obstructing the administration of justice. At the disbarment trial, Bar Counsel introduced evidence of Mr. Mixture’s misconduct from 22 different cases.
Bar Counsel interviewed many of Mr. Mixter’s opposing counsel. When Bar Counsel asked why they didn’t report Mr. Mixter’s deliberate pattern of misconduct to the Attorney Grievance Commission, the answer was always the same: “Once the case was over, I didn’t want to hear Mixter’s name ever again”.
Practice Pointer for Attorneys: Rule 8.3(a) of the Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct requires an attorney to report a violation “that raises substantial question as to that lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects”.
