MD Office of Bar Counsel faces staffing woes as search for new leadership stretches on
Former Bar Counsel Lydia E. Lawless Lawless says the Office of Bar Counsel’s mission “remains crucial to upholding trust in the legal profession.”(Submitted Photo)
The office that investigates and prosecutes attorney misconduct has seen an exodus of laywers and other staff in recent months as its oversight board foundered in the search for new leadership.
Eleven employees have left the Office of Bar Counsel since June of last year, including nine attorneys, according to a Daily Record review. Several leadership positions — two deputy bar counsels and a senior assistant bar counsel — are vacant, according to the office’s website, and a second acting bar counsel recently took charge.
The numbers indicate that the office’s staffing level is around half what it was this time last year. Only three assistant bar counsels are listed on the office’s website; last year there were seven, plus a fully staffed leadership team.
Former employees and people with knowledge of the office told The Daily Record that many of the departures have occurred since Lydia E. Lawless resigned as Maryland’s bar counsel and left in March.
Three former employees said that losing Lawless’ clear vision for the office was a major blow that contributed to uncertainty among staffers; two said they also felt a growing sense that the Maryland Supreme Court is at odds with the Office of Bar Counsel.
All of the former employees asked for anonymity in order to speak candidly about the office and the court or because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
“The staffing levels of the office are gong to be devastating for the state of attorney responsibility in Maryland,” one said. “It was already an office that was going up against Goliaths as a David, that had very few resources and had to use them in a very smart way to try to really protect the public in some of these cases.”
The search for new bar counsel to lead the office has been sluggish. The Maryland attorney Grievance Commission, which appoints a candidate for bar counsel subject to approval by the Supreme Court, named a first round of finalists in June, only for the Supreme Court to reject their pick late last month.
D. Michael Lyles, the city attorney for Annapolis who was nominated to serve as bar counsel, said that the Supreme Court declined to confirm him for the job. The court declined to offer any comment or explanation for the decision, which forced the attorney Grievance Commission to relaunch the search process.
Since then, the commission has announced another round of finalists, this time with four candidates. Comments on the finalists are due by Friday.
Two acting bar counsels have led the office since Lawless’s departure. Erin A. Risch, who took over first and left the office this month, declined to comment.
The new acting bar counsel is Dolores O. Ridgell, a lawyer who previously worked in the office. The attorney Grievance Commission and the Judiciary did not return a request for comment for this story.
Lawless, who now works at Kramon & Graham, P.A., said in an emailed statement that the Office of Bar Counsel’s mission “remains crucial to upholding trust in the legal profession.”
“The public servants in the office, both current and past, have been inspired by that mission and worked tirelessly to protect the public and the profession every single day,” Lawless said. “I believe deeply in each of them. All of us that have served there were committed to building on those that came before us and I have no doubt that will continue to be true.”
Whoever takes over will have to contend with an office that is seriously understaffed and experiencing morale issues.
Two former employees said the job became harder recently as the Maryland Supreme Court seemed to shift its approach to attorney discipline cases. Dissenting justices have become more vocal, they said, and the tenor of arguments before the high court is increasingly antagonistic.
An example appeared recently: Lawless, shortly before her resignation became public, faced intense questioning during an argument before the Supreme Court over her role in an investigation that took place during a judicial election.
The case involved Montgomery County attorney Marylin Pierre, who was accused of making false statements about a group of sitting judges during her failed campaign in 2020.
The Supreme Court’s opinion in the case was unusually critical and cautioned bar counsel to avoid launching investigations so close to elections.
“…the investigation should not have occurred when it did,” Chief Justice Matthew J. Fader wrote for the majority in the Pierre case.
“No exigent circumstances existed that demanded an immediate investigation. No client interests were at stake. And there is no suggestion anywhere in the record that Bar Counsel’s investigation would have been prejudiced by waiting until November 4 or later to initiate it,” the chief justice wrote.
“To be clear, we do not question bar counsel’s motives here,” Fader wrote. “Nonetheless, the risk that an impartial observer might question those motives was not worth whatever marginal value might have been perceived to lie in proceeding on the chosen timeline.”
Justice Shirley M. Watts, who raised some of the most pointed questions during oral argument, went further, suggesting the appointment of a special counsel to ensure public confidence in the investigation.
In 2022, the justices also relaxed the standard for disbarring attorneys who are intentionally dishonest, adopting a new case-by-case approach.
The Office of Bar Counsel is in an unusual position: Its attorneys argue before the Supreme Court, but the office is also overseen by the attorney Grievance Commission, whose members are appointed by the Supreme Court. The high court also approves of the commission’s picks for bar counsel.
The job can also be an unpopular one for lawyers. Lawless, for example, faced criticism from attorneys who saw her as an uncompromising stickler for the rules.
Former employees said Lawless encouraged them to pursue cases without concern for the power or popularity of the attorneys being investigated. But the Supreme Court’s shifting attitude, and Lawless’ departure, has left lawyers at the Office of Bar Counsel feeling exposed, two former employees said.
The former employees said that the staffing issues will likely mean major backlogs at an office that handles hundreds of cases per year and offers one of the few forms of recourse available to vulnerable clients when an attorney mistreats them.
“It’s going to mean fewer cases,” one ex-employee said. “It’s going to mean more sweetheart plea deals, I’m sure, and it’s going to mean less protection to the public.”
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