Legal Ethics

'Forum Of Hate' Emails Lead To Suspensions Because... Yeah, They're Bad

These emails are wild.

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The Maryland Court of Appeals has indefinitely suspended two members of their bar, James Markey and Charles Hancock, over an email chain that went on for a period of seven years that the court said contains “disturbingly inappropriate and offensive statements.” Three other lawyers that are not members of the Maryland bar were also on the email chain.

Markey, a former judge at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and Hancock, a former attorney adviser at the same Board, are no longer in the positions they held when participating in these emails. Markey was fired from his position, and Hancock retired.

In a not-at-all-subtle naming, the emails went around as the “forum of hate” and ABA Journal has some of the high(low)lights:

• Commenting on a photo of an all-white Little League team, Markey asked where the white sheets were. “‘Bonfire’ after every victory,” Markey said, a reference to the Ku Klux Klan.

• Hancock referred to the chief veterans law judge, an African American woman, as “G-Pot.” The name was short for “Ghetto Hippopotamus.” He also called the judge “a despicable impersonation of a human woman, who ought to [have] her cervix yanked out of her by the Silence of the Lamb[s] guy and force-fed to her.”

• Hancock referred to “a spot open in AA’s Forum of Gayness,” a reference to a lawyer who worked at the veterans board.

• Markey referred to a bar and said it had a “creepy looking clientele, and I’m no homophobe.”

• Markey referred to a woman who was vice chairman of the board as “baby t.” The name was short for “baby talk,” a disparaging reference to her tone of voice.

• Hancock asked about a “chick” in a photo and said, “Like to have my pee pee introduced to her va jay jay.”

• Hancock said a lawyer had nice “DSLs,” which stood for “d- – – -sucking lips.”

• Markey altered a news article about a suspended employee of the sheriff’s office. Markey altered the article to say the employee’s supporters got into a heated debate with an opponent, “a fast food working, basketball type playing man.” Markey’s alteration said the opponent “left, timidly, when 11 people causally tossed ropes at him.”

• Markey referred to the chief veterans law judge as a “total b- – – -.”

The court found that since they used their work email addresses and the messages were sent during work hours and were about work colleagues, the behavior was related to the practice of law. The court wasted few words condemning the outrageous behavior:

“Markey’s and Hancock’s statements demonstrating bias and prejudice speak for themselves and constitute abhorrent conduct,” the court of appeals said.

The emails were found to have violated ethics rules against bias or prejudice in a professional capacity, based on race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. And the court said, “Markey’s and Hancock’s misconduct clearly had the potential to undermine the work of the board and the public’s confidence in that work, as well as damage the public’s perception of the legal profession, the board, the department, and the federal government at large.”

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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