Lawyer Suspended for E-Mail Snooping

Legal Ethics

Posted May 28, 2008, 06:56 am CDT

By Debra Cassens Weiss

A West Virginia lawyer has been suspended for two years for accessing the e-mail of his wife and eight other lawyers at least 150 times over a two-year period.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals imposed the sanction against Charleston lawyer Michael Markins in an opinion issued Friday, the Legal Profession Blog reports.

At first Markins accessed his wife's e-mail account at the law firm at which she worked as an associate in an attempt to learn whether she might be having an affair, ABAJournal.com noted in an earlier post. After he figured out the firm’s uncomplicated e-mail password system, “his curiosity got the better of him” and he accessed the e-mail accounts of eight other lawyers at his wife’s firm on almost a daily basis, the opinion says.

At the time, Markins worked at Huddleston Bolen and his wife worked at Offutt, Fisher and Nord. Both lost their jobs.

Markins accessed personal information and viewed confidential financial information intended to be read exclusively by Offutt Fisher’s partners. He didn’t stop until he learned the firm’s computer experts were on the verge of discovering that he was behind the unauthorized e-mail intrusions.

Huddleston represented co-defendants in a large mass tort case, and one of them had a claim for indemnity against an Offutt Fisher client. However, there is no evidence that information concerning the case had been compromised, according to the opinion.

Nor is there any evidence that Markins misused the information he accessed, the opinion says. Still, the court said it needed to impose an effective sanction as a deterrent to other lawyers and to reassure the public.

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Posted by DB - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 11 hours, 29 minutes ago

This is rough. The guy suspected his wife of infidelity, then was just following up on it. It happens all the time when a relationship sours. I’ve seen it happen the other way; a woman suspects hubby of dipping his wick in the company’s inkwell; then checks his e-mail, credit card receipts, pants pockets, and inevitably comes up with paydirt on the guy. Here this poor schmuck is being persecuted for being creative. He could care less about the “confidentiality” of the files. He’s interested in whether the wife was fooling around. He’s much more interested in learning who is porking his wife, and if he weren’t a lawyer, we’d never read about this. I think lawyers whose wives are screwing around on them should be in no worse position just because they’re lawyers. They are entitled to figure out what their wives are doing outside of the marital bed. And if they catch the wife, they should get the same rights as the wife does when she catches him getting prohibited nookie.
Posted by RED - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 11 hours ago

DB - you must have missed the fact that he read the mail of “eight other lawyers.” not to mention the fact that his wife does not own her work email, her work does.

on a side note… i hope someone gets prsecuted for having client information protected by a password system that was so simple it was compromised by a plantiff’s lawyer.
Posted by RM - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 10 hours, 41 minutes ago

RED - you are obviously a “silk stocking” defense attorney (read in a hump that is 6 levels down from the decision maker). When do you get to take your first deposition - year 7 of practice? Trial? Year 15?

Your comments regarding “the password system being so simple it was compromised by a plaintiff’s lawyer” reek of mindless churning and billing. If you were a decent , creative or dilligent lawyer you would have simply performed a websearch of Mr. Markins’ firm and found out that they are the oldest Defense firm in the State of West Virginia.

With regard to your other comments - I couldn’t agree more...and I know the guy
Posted by EAC - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 10 hours, 27 minutes ago

DB, you have missed the mark. He wasn’t snooping her private e-mail (questionable at best), he broke into a firm’s e-mail and read hers as well as eight other attorneys’ over a lengthy period of time. There is no excuse for this. Additionally, licensed attorneys can’t behave like any “poor schmuck”—they are well aware that certain ethical considerations must inform their behavior. I feel bad for he wife losing her job (although I admit I do not know all the circumstances of that decision) and their dirty laundry being aired, but I have little or no sympathy for him.
Posted by Diamond Jim - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 10 hours, 22 minutes ago

The reason divorce is so expensive? Because it’s worth it. Now that he is suspended for two years and unable to obtain gainful employment he will be stuck with his wife supporting him. I think we need an ABA support group for guys like this.
Posted by RA - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 8 hours, 52 minutes ago

RM - C’mon, get a sense of humor! :-)
Posted by SDR - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 8 hours, 48 minutes ago

Did anyone ever consider the wife....What if she WASN’T having an affair...it was just this poor guy’s fantasy or concern. She just sits there and does her job, hour on endless hour...and then gets canned because her jealous, paranoid husband wants to check up on her. Either way doesn’t sound like a great marriage. I agree with EAC....dirty laundry should not be the top priority here. The breach into confidential matters, whether utilized or not, is the problem.
Posted by INT - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 8 hours, 13 minutes ago

RM - Why doesn’t it surprise me you know this guy? Your comments parallel the same professionalism as your buddy.

RED - keep up the good work. It’s folks like you that bring good reputations to us hardworking lawyers who just want to do our work and do the right thing.
Posted by Elmore Leonard - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 7 hours, 48 minutes ago

Interesting discussion. I think that maybe the wife was fooling around, and possibly not, but where there is smoke, there usually is fire. The marriage will likely brake up, particularly if the guy is unemployed, why should the wife stick with him--if there were any reason, it would have been economic, and that’s gone now. I suggest that people think carefully, both before they marry, and even moreso afterward. It is not a good idea to fool around when your married, for obvious reasons noted here. I feel bad for the guy. He lost his livelihood, and also his woman--all because he was a lawyer. He would not be in such hot water if he were in a different trade. Maybe the ABA should establish a support group for lawyers who’s spouses cheat on them. It would keep the lawyers from doing something dumb, like this oaf.
Posted by check it - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 5 hours, 36 minutes ago

I would sanction everyone for living in West Virginia. dunno bout chu tho.
Posted by RM-not - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 5 hours, 28 minutes ago

RM - very good comment, as if you are being serious. I’m sure no one would think you really meant what you wrote....right????
Posted by Technician - 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 3 hours, 55 minutes ago

I noticed this was the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Is that higher than the Court of Appeals but lower than the Supreme Court? Or because this is WV do they include “appeals” in the definition of Supreme Court so people know what they do?
Posted by ALB - 4 months, 1 week, 21 hours, 46 minutes ago

Why is it that no one feels bad for the wife, who lost her job because of her husband’s stupidity and paranoia?
Posted by Elmore Leonard - 4 months, 1 week, 2 hours, 32 minutes ago

#13, your not paying attention. The wife was fooling around; that is what caused all of this mess. How can we feel sorry for her? She got fired, but the husband is facing disciplinary charges because she was fooling around in a law firm.
Posted by what? - 4 months, 5 days, 8 hours, 17 minutes ago

Am I missing something? Why was SHE fired?
Posted by Hadley V. Baxendale - 4 months, 5 days, 6 hours, 30 minutes ago

The poor schmuck didn’t know that he would leave an electronic “paper trail”? He broke the 11th Commandment; he got caught. Stoooopid! Note to Elmore Leonard”; their marriage might BREAK not “brake” up.
Posted by LawClerk - 4 months, 4 days, 9 hours, 20 minutes ago

Did anyone else think that maybe he was reading the other 8 attorneys’ emails because he had them narrowed down as possible culprits in his wife’s infidelity? Perhaps she was sending some or all of them seductive emails. Or, he could just be paranoid. Like #15, I would also like to know why SHE was fired. Maybe she really was involved with some or all 8 of those men....which is problematic, for obvious reasons, in an office setting.
Posted by West Virginia Attorney - 4 months, 4 days, 3 hours, 5 minutes ago

My guess is that those who have posted comments above merely to disparage West Virginia and its citizens (specifically numbers 10 and 12) have never visited West Virginia, but instead choose to believe ridiculous stereotypes. I would expect more intelligence and thoughtfulness from fellow attorneys.

Mr. Markins’ conduct clearly fell outside of the ethics rules by which each of us must live. As attorneys, we must hold ourselves to a high level of ethical conduct as set forth clearly for us by our Rules of Professional Conduct. Mr. Markins knew this when he took the oath and entered our noble profession. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals (which is West Virginia’s only appellate court) made the correct decision in suspending Mr. Markins from the practice of law for a period of two years. His actions were devastating to his wife’s highly respected former firm and he should have known better.

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