Legal Ethics:
Defense of Federal Court Disbarment Proceedings, State Bar Complaints, and Sanctions Motions Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 11, 28 U.C.S. § 1927, or State Law Equivalents, and State Defamation Statutes.
With over 20 years of practice experience in legal ethics, Danny Howell has represented dozens of attorneys in disbarment proceedings before the federal bankruptcy courts and the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, ethics investigations before the Virginia State Bar, and sanctions hearings in state and federal courts. Danny is frequently appointed by professional liability insurers to defend sanctions actions brought against their insured attorneys. A former Fellow of the National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism, Danny lectures and publishes several times a year on a variety of legal ethics topics.
Danny’s successful sanctions cases include Snyder-Falkinham v. Stockburger, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12698 (W.D. Va. Aug. 2, 1996), aff’d, 53 Fed. Appx. 243 (4th Cir. Dec. 18, 2002), cert. denied, 539 U.S. 959 (2003) (affirming sanctions against lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Rule 11 in action arising out of settlement); Arons v. Lalime, 6:94-CV-7618CJS(H), 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20342 (W.D.N.Y. Oct. 8, 1998) (disqualifying plaintiff’s counsel for interference with defense counsel’s attor-client relationship with client); Arons v. Lalime, 167 F.R.D. 364, 368 (W.D.N.Y. 1996) (sanctions against plaintiff’s counsel for discovery abuse); Cummings v. Hanson, No. 95-1267, No. 95-1418, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 36978, at *2 (1st Cir. Dec. 28, 1995) (upholding Rule 11 sanctions for improper purpose in civil RICO claim against opposing counsel); and Addicott Hills Corp. v. Leon, 29 Va. Cir. 367, 369 (Fairfax Cir. Ct. 1992) (Court lacked power to award sanctions after twenty-one days even though a motion to continue the hearing on the sanctions motion was granted before the twenty-one days had elapsed).