Would you hire Robin Ficker as your lawyer… and congressman?

By Ryan Miner 

If you have been following the 6th congressional district Republican primary closely and, like the rest of us, watch in amusement Robin Ficker run a decidedly losing campaign by posting in EVERY_SINGLE_FACEBOOK_GROUP about his qualifications of having 30+ years as an attorney in “Western Maryland courts” (including, apparently, the “Frostburg Courthouse), you’ll never hear Ficker address the proverbial 500 pound elephant in the room.

Ficker’s career practicing law is less than reputable. In fact, his law license was suspended twice in the last twenty years – once in 1998 and again in 2007.

Would you hire Robin Ficker as your attorney and congressman? 

According to Ficker’s Wikipedia page,

In 1990, Ficker was publicly reprimanded by the Maryland Court of Appeals upon a finding that he had violated ethical rules prohibiting neglect, engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, and lack of diligence.

In March, 1998, he was indefinitely suspended from the practice of law, with the right to reapply for admission after 120 days, arising from violations related to competence, diligence, fairness to opposing counsel and parties, supervising lawyers and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.

In August, 1998, he was privately reprimanded by the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission for a violation related to competence. In January, 2002, he was privately reprimanded by the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission for a violation related to client communications.

Ficker was again indefinitely suspended from the practice of law in 2007. A dissenting judge in the latest suspension commented, “If disbarment is not warranted in this case for these types of issues, with a respondent with this history, it will never be warranted.” Ficker’s law license was reinstated on December 8, 2008. Ficker became a real estate broker with his own company, Robin Realty, in 2008.^[5]

On March 10, 1998, the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission filed an opinion against Robin Ficker, listing the following grievance:

Attorney Grievance: Duty to provide competent representation, to assure that subordinate lawyers provide competent representation, to have in place appropriate case management procedures.

Robin Ficker’s 1998 law license suspension by Ryan Miner

At the conclusion of the 1998 grievance aginst Ficker (seen below), the body issued the following recommendation:

For the violations found in these cases, and in light of Ficker’s previous reprimand, we believe that the appropriate sanction is an indefinite suspension from the practice of law, with the right to reapply for admission after 120 days from the effective date of suspension. The suspension shall commence 30 days from the filing of this Opinion.

The Attorney Grievance Commission listed several conditions that Ficker was required to meet before his license could be reinstated, including:

• Pay all costs associated.
• Show the Maryland Bar Counsel that his “firm” can accept the workload of cases and that said cases are assigned to an attorney who can adequately prepare for the case and meet the schedule demands of clients.
• Other stipulations were set, including “informing Bar Counsel of the name and address of a monitor, acceptable to Bar Counsel, who will agree, at Ficker’s expense, to oversee Ficker’s practice of law for a period of at least two years and to provide to Bar Counsel monthly reports for one year and quarterly reports for the second year.”

Would you hire Robin Ficker as your attorney and congressman? 

After Ficker’s first suspension in 1998, perhaps he would have learned his lesson and followed basic rules of conduct – or maybe he would have invested in a scheduler to handle his caseload.

Apparently Ficker just can’t do the right thing.

Here we go again….

On June 7, 2007, the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission issued the following written statement in its findings:

We see in these violations an inexcusable lack of concern on Ficker’s part for the welfare of his clients, an unwillingness, after four warnings, to make the necessary improvements to his office management. Accordingly, we believe that the appropriate

Accordingly, we believe that the appropriate sanction is an indefinite suspension from the practice of law, with the right to reapply for admission no earlier than one year from the effective date of the suspension. Pursuant to Md. Rule 16-760(a), “to allow … a reasonable opportunity to comply,” the suspension shall commence 30 days after the filing of this Opinion, except that Ficker shall accept no new clients and undertake no new work for existing clients as of the date of this Order.

Once again, it was shown by Maryland’s Attorney Grievance Committee that Robin Ficker did not represent his clients to the best of his ability and in a timely manner.

According to the 2007 report (seen below), “Ficker was charged with violations of the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC), mostly emanating from carelessness in the running of his office – carelessness that has resulted in failures on his part or on the part of lawyers he was responsible for supervising to appear in court or otherwise properly attend to client matters.”

Robin Ficker’s 2007 law license suspension by Ryan Miner

As if a one-year suspension wasn’t enough to damn Ficker’s sleazy law practice, it was, however, the stingingly indelible statement written by Judge Dale R. Cathell, calling for Ficker’s disbarment:

“If disbarment is not warranted in this case for these types of issues, with a respondent with this history, it will never be warranted. If it is never going to be warranted in these types of cases, we should modify the rules to say so. I would disbar.”

I would consider hiring Joe Pesci’s character from the timeless classic, My Cousin Vinny, Vincent Gambini, (a fictional lawyer) and the underpaid public defender with a serious stuttering problem (another fictional lawyer) before I would ever consider hiring Attorney Robin Ficker.

I’ll pose the question one last time:

Would you hire Robin Ficker as your lawyer …. and congressman?