Baltimore attorney who represented White House gatecrashers disbarred

A Baltimore entertainment lawyer known for representing the couple who crashed a White House state dinner in 2009 has been disbarred.

Paul Winston Gardner II violated 13 rules with at least two clients under the Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct, according to a Court of Appeals’ decision issued Monday. The violations include: mishandling clients’ funds, improper billing, improperly sharing attorney‘s fees and charging unreasonable fees.

“Looked at in isolation, some violations are so serious in and of themselves that they warrant a severe sanction,” the Court of Appeals wrote in its decision. “In the scope and number of the violations, they are particularly egregious.”

Gardner had represented White House gatecrashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the couple who famously attended President Obama’s first state dinner without an invite in 2009 while filming the Bravo reality TV show, “The Real Housewives of D.C.” No charges were filed in the Salahi case and it had no impact on his disbarment.

When reached by phone Monday, Gardner said he had not previously been informed of his disbarment.

“I don’t agree with the decision,” he said.

Glenn M. Grossman, Bar Counsel for the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission, declined to comment on the case.

Gardner, managing partner of the Gardner Law Group, had already been reprimanded by the Attorney Grievance Commission in 2009 after failing to deposit a client’s retainer into an attorney trust account. Gardner had recently attended classes on law firm financial management, as part of an agreement with the Attorney Grievance Commission, according to the Court of Appeals decision.

Gardner, who earned his law degree from Howard University in 2000, practiced primarily corporate and entertainment law and represented various rappers and music artists including the hip-hop group Outkast, according to his website.

Monday’s ruling came after the Attorney Grievance Commission filed a complaint on behalf of itself and two former clients. In September, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie J. Hong found Gardner had violated rules of conduct.

The Attorney Grievance Commission found Gardner had been paying his office manager with checks drawn from his attorney trust accounts — problematic because his fee arrangements with clients did not specify that attorney’s fees would be shared with the office manager. His client trust fund was also overdrawn.

In another case, a former client, Steve Kang, retained Gardner on behalf of a woman seeking to file a non-immigrant visa application for her husband. Gardner had never filed immigration paperwork and the first application was rejected after he failed to correctly fill out the forms, according to the Court of Appeals decision. He then waited three months to notify the woman and never refiled the application, despite saying he would.

Kang retained Gardner in a number of other corporate law matters including property sales and liquor license transfers. Gardner overcharged Kang, sometimes did not perform the work he was hired to do and failed to reimburse Kang for incomplete work, according to the Court of Appeals decision. Gardner also did not send regular invoices to Kang and later admitted in court that his bills were inaccurate.

Vivian Boyd retained Gardner to represent her son, aspiring rapper Christopher ‘AG’ Holden, and deposited money for attorney’s fees in a client trust account. Gardner withdrew most of the funds from the account despite having only performed two hours of billable work.

Boyd later gave Gardner $25,000 to negotiate a contract for rapper Rick Ross to perform with Holden. Gardner gave $12,500 in cash to a recording industry manager in New York, but a contract was never signed, according to the decision. He gave the same manager $1,000 a few months later without an explanation.

Boyd then asked for the money for the contract to be returned to her. She called Gardner 30 times in three months, but her calls were not returned. Eventually, Gardner returned $4,500 to her.

Gardner also showed up late to his circuit court hearings and did not attend a deposition, according to the Court of Appeals.

“His conduct during the progress of this disciplinary proceeding also is an aggravating factor,” the Court of Appeals wrote.

WHAT THE COURT HELD

Case:

Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland v. Paul Winston Gardner II, No. 74, September Term 2011, Argued Jan. 7, 2013. Decided Feb. 11, 2013. Opinion by Cathell, J.

Issue:

Is disbarment a proper punishment for an attorney who has mismanaged client trust accounts, failed to maintain records, shared attorney’s fees improperly, failed to communicate with clients and charged unreasonable fees?

Holding:

Yes. The Court of Appeals found the attorney had violated 13 rules under the Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct and should be disbarred.

Counsel:

Raymond A. Hein for the Attorney Grievance Commission; Paul Winston Gardner II for himself.

RecordFax 13-0211-20 (32 pages).