Barry Hammer was an Everett lawyer with offices across the street from the Snohomish County Courthouse. About 2 1/2 years ago he tearfully stood before a U.S. District Court judge in Seattle and was sentenced to prison for running a Ponzi scheme. Hammer, 65, claimed to be an expert on taxes and real estate. Maybe so, but records show he hoovered up $9.3 million from dozens of people, many of them clients.
Hammer did his time. His federal community custody is scheduled to end late this summer.
The attorney’s story certainly offers seeds for cynicism: Steal by abusing the trust clients place in their lawyer; blubber in front of a judge; head off to Club Fed for a couple years of sabbatical.
People in the legal profession sure know how to take care of their own, right?
In Hammer’s case they did — and not in ways he likely found pleasant.
It was lawyers who exposed Hammer’s misdeeds and it was lawyers who later ponied up nearly $700,000 to help his victims.
Hammer’s criminal conduct was unmasked when a former law partner in 2004 developed evidence, and took it to the Washington State Bar Association, the court-sanctioned governing body for attorneys statewide. The bar association launched an investigation. The whistle-blowing lawyer was cleared of any role in Hammer’s scams, but he risked it all — his reputation, his legal practice, even litigation from his vengeful ex-partner.
The bar association built a strong case against Hammer, solid enough that he surrendered his law license without a ruckus. Details the lawyers dug up went to federal prosecutors and state financial regulators. More lawyers began untangling Hammer’s $13 million bankruptcy, a mess still pending in the courts.
There are roughly 34,460 attorneys licensed to practice in Washington. Each year, every active member pays a $30 mandatory assessment to help cover losses to clients from a lawyer’s dishonesty. After Hammer’s sentencing, the bar association announced it was paying nearly $700,000 to dozens of people he swindled.
That payout remains the largest since the fund was established in 1960, bar association spokeswoman Judy Berrett said.
The bar association in 2010 disciplined 93 lawyers; 21 were disbarred. You can learn more about lawyer discipline in Washington here.
Lawyer discipline 2010
| Violation | Disbarments | Resignation | Suspension | Reprimands | Admonitions | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client confidences | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Conflicts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Criminal conduct | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| Diligence/competence | 3 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 26 |
| Dishonesty | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Fees | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Litigation misconduct | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| Not cooperating with investigators | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Practice while suspended | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Theft/trust account | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 20 |
| Total | 21 | 5 | 24 | 32 | 11 | 93 |
Source: Washington State Bar Association
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