Baltimore County divorce lawyer disbarred

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Baltimore County divorce lawyer Judith Marie Hamilton was disbarred Tuesday for her failure to competently represent a client and her subsequent lack of cooperation with the investigation by the Maryland Office of Bar Counsel.

Hamilton abandoned a client for four months in 2023. She didn’t participate in the discovery process, didn’t deposit her client’s $3,000 down payment into an Interest On Lawyers’ Trust Account, didn’t return the money after her client fired her and didn’t send records to that client’s new lawyer.

The Maryland Supreme Court disbarred her for violating the Maryland Attorneys’ Rules of Professional Conduct requiring competence, diligence and communication. She also violated rules regarding clients’ fees, the safekeeping of property and the termination of representation, and was found to have committed professional misconduct.

Hamilton ignored the bar counsel investigation. She was absent at hearings in June and July of 2025. The Baltimore County Circuit Court entered findings of fact without her objection, and the Maryland Supreme Court adopted them.

“In this case, Respondent wholly failed to participate in the disciplinary process,” Justice Peter Killough wrote. “She did not respond to the Petition, did not file exceptions to the Hearing Judge’s findings and conclusions, did not submit opposition memoranda to this Court, and waived oral argument.”

Hamilton did not respond to a request for comment. She did not have an attorney in the disciplinary process, according to court documents and Maryland Judiciary Case Search.

Hamilton in May 2023 entered an appearance in Baltimore County Circuit Court and filed an answer to a counter-complaint. The judge accepted the answer, but rejected the entry of appearance because she failed to include a certificate of service.

She attended a scheduling conference in June and spoke to opposing counsel before and shortly after the conference. In early September, her client fired her, asked for his money back, and told the court he hadn’t heard from her since June.

She replied from a new email address, asking for additional documents. She did not acknowledge having been fired and, Killough wrote, she “provided no explanation regarding her long absence from his case.”

After that, her former client and opposing counsel filed complaints with the Attorney Grievance Commission. She didn’t respond.

The next spring, Bar Counsel investigators attempted to reach her at multiple email addresses, her home and office, and called nine different phone numbers possibly associated with her. The investigator went to her house, but found it had been vacant for six months.

The state’s high court disbarred her without hearing oral arguments. She never responded to a notice that arguments were scheduled.

The court found several aggravating factors that weighed against her, including “dishonest and selfish behavior,” lack of cooperation, and indifference to rectifying the harm she caused. It found no mitigating factors that could have explained or lessened her punishment. While she had no disciplinary record, that was outweighed by her failure to cooperate with the investigation.

“Respondent’s complete lack of participation in this proceeding indicates a lack of respect for the profession and the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct,” Baltimore County Circuit Judge Garret Glennon Jr. wrote in the findings of fact. “The likelihood of repetition of such misconduct appears significant.”