Attorney Grievance Commission v. Ficker3/10/1998
In two petitions, the Attorney Grievance Commission (AGC), through Bar Counsel, charged Robin K. A. Ficker (Ficker) with several violations of the Maryland Lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct (MLRPC). The charges emanated from eight complaints filed between 1988 and 1992. Pursuant to former Maryland Rule BV 9 b (current Rule 16-709), we referred the two petitions to Judge Vincent E. Ferretti, Jr., of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, to conduct a hearing and make findings of fact and proposed conclusions of law. After hearing evidence over a period of 11 days, Judge Ferretti filed a 45-page opinion in which he made detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law, culminating in a determination that Ficker had, in one manner or another, violated MLRPC Rules 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 3.4, 5.1, and 8.4. Exceptions were taken by either AGC, Ficker, or both in five of the eight cases.
DISCUSSION
The complaints against Ficker arise largely from alleged deficiencies in the way he ran his office - principally in the way he kept track of cases and assigned them to associates. In 1990, we reprimanded Ficker for a similar inattention to detail that, as in some of the instant cases, led to a failure to appear in court for two scheduled trials or hearings. Attorney Griev. Comm'n v. Ficker, 319 Md. 305, 572 A.2d 501 (1990) (Ficker I).
Ficker was admitted to practice in 1973. In 1986, when his earlier troubles surfaced, he was a solo practitioner who operated out of an office in Bethesda and was assisted by a clerk with no legal training. As we pointed out in Ficker I, he maintained no diary or tickler system, and his only schedule of court dates was a large desk calendar. Id. at 308. By 1988, when the current charges began to arise, he had three offices - one in Bethesda, one in College Park, and one in Frederick. His practice was a high-volume one that concentrated on serious traffic violations, often alcohol-related. He estimated that, in 1988-91, he handled between 750 and 850 cases a year. He had cases throughout the State but practiced primarily in Montgomery, Prince George's, and Frederick Counties. To assist him in maintaining that practice, Ficker hired various associates, none of whom, according to this record, remained in his employ very long or consistently. Stephen Allen was employed as Ficker's first associate in June, 1988. In August, 1989, Ficker hired a second associate, Denise Banjavic. Banjavic quit five months later, in January, 1990, and was replaced by B. Edward McClellan and Thomas Mooney. A month later, Allen left, after 19 months; he was replaced, in March, 1990, by David Saslaw and Noreen Nelligan. McClellan left in February, 1991 (13 months); Mooney left in March, 1992 (26 months). Saslaw and Nelligan left for a time but later returned. Ficker apparently did not have a secretary but instead employed one non-lawyer assistant. His first assistant was Art Williams; after Mr. Williams, who was then in his seventies, suffered a stroke in 1989, Ficker employed Alex Burfield, a law student, to replace him.
Both Allen and McClellan testified as to the way in which Ficker assigned cases and responsibility. Allen testified basically that Ficker would interview most of the clients and would assign cases to himself and the associates the day before trial. The attorneys assigned the cases would often have never seen the file before and, in 99% of the cases, would never have met the client. Allen said that, sometimes when he got to court, he would have to call out the client's name in order to make the introduction. Often, the file did not contain a police report, and it was not until he got to court that, through discussions with the prosecutor or police officer, he wo
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