'Overwhelmed' lawyer agrees to disbarment in Md. Court of Appeals

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Nov 21, 2007 by Caryn Tamber

Robyn Glassman-Katz, a former Kimmel & Silverman PC lawyer on whose watch dozens of lemon-law cases were dismissed for failure of discovery, has been disbarred by consent.

Glassman-Katz served as managing partner of the Ambler, Pa.- based firm's Maryland office for a year. In that time, she filed more than 500 cases against car manufacturers alleging vehicle defects. She said she failed to meet discovery deadlines because she was overwhelmed with work and received little support from her bosses at Kimmel & Silverman.

Monday, the Court of Appeals entered an order disbarring Glassman- Katz. She said she consented to the sanction because she was tired of fighting it, and because her health and wallet were taking a hit.

"[The] bottom line is that I was really not interested in practicing law anymore," said Glassman-Katz, who said she now works as a Spanish teacher. "I'm totally pretty much disgusted by the whole situation and the way the [Attorney] Grievance Commission handled it. ... It just wasn't worth all the time and the money I was spending on legal fees.

"I wish I didn't feel like I had to do it, but I felt like I couldn't go on. It was getting ridiculous."

She said she still believes she would have won her case.

Kimmel & Silverman opened an Owings Mills office in 2004 and hired Glassman-Katz as its only attorney, though she had no experience practicing consumer protection law. Over the next year, she filed hundreds of boilerplate complaints on behalf of clients, almost all of them in Baltimore County, even when the cases had no connection to that venue. Lawyers defending the automakers she sued began to complain about the venue issue and about her failure to answer their requests for discovery.

The Attorney Grievance Commission's petition for disciplinary action against Glassman-Katz last July, which charged that she did not represent her clients adequately, alleged that she never told her supervisors that she was having trouble keeping up with the work, or that many of the cases had been dismissed. Glassman-Katz contests that claim, saying she begged her bosses for the help of a paralegal or another lawyer.

"The thing I think I did the worst wrong was not leaving," she said.

Glassman-Katz finally did quit in August 2005. Kimmel & Silverman has claimed that it learned of the problems with the Maryland cases after her departure.

Since then, the firm has been beset with problems in Maryland, including two federal court opinions criticizing its use of expert witnesses, a putative class-action malpractice suit, and attorney grievance actions against name partners Robert Silverman and Craig Kimmel. The attorney grievance complaints allege that they did not properly supervise Glassman-Katz.

Through a spokesman, the firm declined to comment on Glassman- Katz's disbarment, citing a policy against speaking about "pending matters."

Glassman-Katz said she is angry with the way her attorney grievance case was handled, especially the length of the process. She said the Attorney Grievance Commission filed a complaint against her in August 2005 after she left Kimmel & Silverman, almost two years before filing its petition for disciplinary or remedial action.

She further complained that, although the petition was filed in July, she was not served with it until September.

"I could have been practicing law this whole time with no repercussions," she said.

She said the commission's peer review panel recommended that she be indefinitely suspended from the practice of law, but that bar counsel would accept nothing less than disbarment.

Bar Counsel Melvin Hirshman said Tuesday that his office never comments on attorney discipline matters.

Jeffrey M. Yeatman, a DLA Piper USA LLP partner, who represented Nissan in claims filed by Glassman-Katz, said news of the disbarment is "saddening" because "Robyn is a very nice person." He said the disbarment was not surprising, given the charges against her.

Yeatman also said he is not surprised that Glassman-Katz consented, since "I think she knew the circumstances she found herself in."

Anthony M. Conti of Conti, Fenn & Lawrence LLC, who represents several car companies, echoed Yeatman, calling the disbarment "unfortunate."

"I know she tried to do her best in the role she was put in, but I don't think there's an attorney out there who could have succeeded in that role," he said.

Glassman-Katz declined to say what she thinks will happen in Kimmel and Silverman's attorney grievance cases, saying she is "still going to be called to testify in their case."

Though the men are not admitted to practice in Maryland, they could be disbarred here, meaning "unconditional exclusion from the admission to or the exercise of any privilege to practice law in this State," according to Maryland Rule 16-701.

The chambers of the judge who will hear testimony in Kimmel and Silverman's attorney grievance cases said hearings in the cases have not yet been scheduled.

Kimmel & Silverman also faces problems in other states. The former managing attorney of its Massachusetts office, as well as a former paralegal in that office, have sued the firm for discrimination, retaliation and wrongful discharge.