Attorney disbarred for abandoning practice

Spokane attorney E. Armstrong Williams was disbarred this week by the state Supreme Court for abandoning his practice, leaving clients in the lurch.

Previously, Williams was suspended for two months in March 2005 for seducing a vulnerable client – a woman nearly 20 years his junior who was suing her employer for alleged sexual harassment. The woman had a troubled marriage and was in counseling for depression.

In that case, the Washington State Bar Association unsuccessfully opposed its own disciplinary board and asked the Supreme Court to substitute a one-year suspension for the 60 days recommended by the disciplinary board.

The improper sexual relationship occurred in January and February of 2001, according to Bar Association documents.

While under investigation by the Bar Association, Williams committed another violation of legal ethics between October 2001 and October 2002, for which he received a reprimand in July 2003. The Bar Association determined that Armstrong had a conflict of interest when he obtained representation from the opposing attorney in a paternity case.

Williams didn’t tell his client in the paternity case that he had hired the other party’s attorney.

The Supreme Court disbarred Williams, effective Wednesday, for abandoning his practice in 2004 – he was suspended in July 2004 for failure to pay bar dues – while two clients were depending on him.

According to Bar Association documents, Williams performed little or no work for clients who paid him a total of $3,500. The little work he did in one of those cases was so incomplete and flawed that it had to be redone by another lawyer, a hearing officer reported.

Williams was admitted to the bar in October 2000.