A Lewis Brisbois associate who was involved in a cheating scandal during his final semester in the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law bar preparation exam, has been approved by the Maryland Supreme Court to join the state bar. This decision was undertaken by a 5-2 majority ruling as reported by Law.com. Interestingly, Maryland is the third jurisdiction to grant Samuel Edward Howie, the said associate, this privilege.
In response to this approval, Howie confessed that his cheating was “lazy”, “arrogant”, and “selfish”, further indicating that he felt more embarrassed about this act than any other mistakes he had made in his lifetime.
The dissenting judges saw Howie’s words as mere damage control, rather than a heartfelt apology or a sincere acknowledgment of his moral shortcomings. In their view, Howie failed to ruminate substantially on the ethical implications of his actions.
Furthermore, Mr. Howie had reportedly not disclosed his honor code violations and his failure to reveal another student’s violation to two of his previous four employers, an action the dissenting judges noted as a reflection of a consistent “lack of candor” and negligence of moral duty towards truthfulness. Despite these disapprovals, Howie will continue his tenure at Lewis Brisbois.
The report about this case was first shared by Above the Law and later expanded on by Law.com here.