College Park lawyer disbarred after failing to pay millions in employment taxes

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A College Park attorney has agreed to be disbarred in Maryland after having pleaded guilty earlier this year for not paying more than $2 million in employment taxes withheld from the employees of his law firm over the course of 24 years.

In an order filed last week, the Maryland Supreme Court granted James McCollum, Jr. and the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission‘s joint petition for disbarment by consent, writing McCollum violated Rules 19-308.4(a-d) of the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct.

The four rules pertain to professional misconduct, including the prohibition for lawyers to “commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the attorney’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as an attorney in other respects” or engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.

The order, signed by Justice Shirley Watts, was not accompanied by an opinion, which is expected to be filed by the high court at a later date.

Counsel for McCollum did not immediately respond to The Daily Record’s request for comment and bar counsel for the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission declined to comment Wednesday.

According to a plea agreement in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, McCollum admitted he failed to pay his federal individual income taxes for three years and did not pay employment taxes in connection with his law firm for nearly 24 years, totaling more than $2,395,000 in restitution.

According to federal prosecutors, McCollum was the sole proprietor for his College Park law firm — which operated most recently as The McCollum Firm — from 1998 to 2024. Beginning in 2010, the IRS attempted to collect the firm’s unpaid employment taxes and assessed the outstanding taxes against McCollum personally when it could not collect the taxes from the firm.

In 2020, instead of paying the taxes that were due, prosecutors say McCollum sought to thwart the IRS’s ongoing collection efforts by transferring his business and its employees to a new entity, and continued to not file the requisite tax returns or pay the employment taxes after the transfer.

McCollum remains in good standing as a member of the District of Columbia bar, records show.

He is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 29, where he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, plus a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.