The Maryland Supreme Court, in a 5-2 majority ruling, mirrored the decisions of two other jurisdictions recently in favor of an applicant to the state bar whose character had previously been red-flagged. This occurred subsequent to an incident of cheating on his bar preparation exam at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law while in his final semester.
Samuel Edward Howie, who is currently employed as a labor and employment law associate at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith in Newark, New Jersey, had already been granted admission to the New Jersey and New York state bars. Howie applied to the Maryland State Bar in July 2021, and the split decision by Maryland’s highest court affirmed that he should be admitted to practice law in the third state.
In her dissent, Justice Michele D. Hotten outlined that Howie had faced honor code violations during his tenure at law school for plagiarism. Additionally, he had failed to disclose another student’s honor code violation which had facilitated his own plagiarism. However, details including which employers were or weren’t aware of the violations remain undisclosed.
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