Ex-BigLaw associate who moonlighted, inflated his title gets tougher sanction in Maryland than DC
A former BigLaw associate accused of inflating his title, charging personal expenses to his firm and moonlighting without permission is getting a stiffer ethics sanction in Maryland than in Washington, D.C.
Garland Stillwell, a former associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, received a 60-day suspension for the misconduct in a 2009 Washington, D.C., disciplinary opinion. But the Maryland Court Appeals imposed a six-month suspension for the same conduct in an opinion (PDF) issued last week. The Legal Profession Blog notes the increase.
According to stipulations of fact, Stillwell:
• Identified himself as a senior counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop on a biography with a real estate association, though he was employed as an associate. He didn’t immediately correct the information after a warning by the firm in 2008.
• Charged personal expenses to the law firm and to a client.
• Launched an outside real estate venture without obtaining the firm’s permission, and used law firm computers and the word processing department to draft documents for his business.
• Used word processing staffers at the firm to prepare a resumé for a friend stating she had worked at the firm for nearly two years, when she was actually employed there for only two weeks. He identified himself as a senior counsel on the friend’s resumé. He also used the firm’s computer equipment to prepare and send an employment verification for the friend to a car dealer that also inflated the length of her employment.
