The Legal Profession Blog is reporting today that the Maryland Court of Appeals disbarred an attorney who had never been admitted in that jurisdiction.
This may sound a bit odd -after all, what authority or "jurisdiction" can a state have over someone who was never admitted? - but I don't think it is that uncommon to hear about states imposing discipline on attorneys who are not admitted in the state. This happens, of course, when a person is trying to practice law in a state without a license. But it does raise an interesting question, assuming the state has, in addition, to the rules of conduct, a specific statute that makes it illegal to practice law without a license, why bother imposing sanctions?
In the Maryland case, the court answers the question this way: "It is of no consequence that [the attorney] has never been admitted to the Maryland Bar." The order "operates as an immediate directive that [the attprney] 'promptly notify the disciplinary authority in each jurisdiction in which [she] is admitted to practice of the disciplinary sanction imposed by [this Court].'"
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