CHARLESTON — An attorney removal order was filed in federal court for a former West Virginia attorney whose law license was annulled this year.
"This court has been notified by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia that the license to practice law in the State of West Virginia of Michael J. Marshall has been annulled by order," wrote U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston, who filed the order.
The clerk was ordered to remove Marshall from the list of attorneys admitted to practice in the district court and a copy was directed to be sent to his last known address in Steubenville, Ohio.
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals annulled Marshall's law license in March.
On Nov. 22, 2017, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a petition seeking annulment of the license to practice law in West Virginia, pursuant to Rule 3.18 of the Rules of Lawyer Disciplinary Procedure. Marshall, by his counsel, Lonnie C. Simmons of DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, filed a request for a mitigation hearing, which the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed an objection to, according to the Supreme Court order.
The Hearing Panel Subcommittee denied the request for a mitigation hearing and on Nov. 14, the court upheld the Hearing Panel Subcommittee's decision that a mitigation hearing was not warranted.
"Upon consideration and review of the petition seeking annulment and all pleadings filed herein, the court is of the opinion and does hereby grant the petition," the Supreme Court order states. "It is therefore ordered that the license to practice law in the State of West Virginia of the respondent, Michael J. Marshall, shall be, and hereby is, annulled."
The Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel was represented by Joanne Vella Kirby.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:19-mc-00075