Robin Ficker is an American disbarred attorney, real estate broker, former state legislator, political activist, sports heckler, and perennial contender who was born on April 5, 1943. In the 2018 election, Ficker ran for Montgomery County Executive.
Ficker grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland, and attended Takoma Park Elementary School before graduating from Montgomery Blair High School.
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Ficker spent five semesters at the United States Military Academy. Case Western Reserve University awarded him a B.S. in electrical and mechanical engineering. Ficker received his J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law after attending the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In 1969, Ficker earned an M.A. in public administration from American University.
Ficker practised law in Maryland from 1973 until his disbarment in 2022. His first case was heard by the United States Supreme Court, in which he sought to end the National Football League’s blackout of sold-out home football games.
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Ficker obtained two historic injunctions that forbid Maryland from restricting access to significant traffic and criminal court records.
The Maryland Court of Appeals publicly reprimanded Ficker in 1990 after finding him to have broken ethical principles banning carelessness, engaging in conduct adverse to the administration of justice, and a lack of attentiveness.
In March 1998, he was indefinitely suspended from the practise of law, with the option of reapplying after 120 days, for violations of competence, diligence, fairness to opposing counsel and parties, supervising lawyers, and conduct injurious to the administration of justice.
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The Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission privately penalised him in August 1998 for a competency breach. The Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission privately penalised him in January 2002 for a violation involving client contacts. In 2007, Ficker was again indefinitely barred from practising law.
“If disbarment is not warranted in this case for these types of issues, with a respondent with this history, it will never be warranted,” said a dissenting judge in that suspension. On December 8, 2008, Ficker’s legal licence was reinstated.
He was rebuked again in 2017 by the Maryland Court of Appeals for failing to appear in Howard County District Court for a scheduled hearing in December 2015. He also violated the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct in 2013 by hiring a disbarred lawyer in a non-lawyer capacity without informing bar counsel, according to the Court of Appeals judgement.
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Ficker was disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals in 2022 after being found to have knowingly lied to a judge in 2019.
Ficker has two sons and a daughter. Desiree Ficker, Ficker’s daughter, is a prominent female professional triathlete who finished second in the 2006 Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Ficker’s marriage to the late Dr. Frances Annette Ficker resulted in divorce after 20 years.
Ficker was exonerated of property destruction in a 1995 traffic incident in 1996, and battery charges were dropped by the State’s Attorney after a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favour of release. Ficker was convicted in a non-jury District Court trial, but he appealed for a jury trial in Circuit Court. The driver of the car Ficker reportedly impacted in the traffic incident said that Ficker struck her in the face, smashing her specs.