A Charleston lawyer could be suspended from the State Bar after admitting that he accessed another law firm's computer system because he suspected his wife was having an affair.

According to a brief filed with the state Supreme Court by the Bar's Lawyer Disciplinary Board, Michael P. Markins repeatedly accessed e-mail accounts at Offutt, Fisher and Nord, where his wife, Andrea N. Markins, worked as an associate.

Between November 2003 and March 2006, Markins logged on to OFN's system more than 150 times, the brief states. At the time, he worked for the law firm Huddleston Bolen LLP.

Markins told investigators that he initially read the e-mails of his wife and another OFN lawyer because he suspected an affair. But he then began reading other lawyers' e-mails out of "selfish curiosity," the brief states.

"Available data from the computer system shows that the OFN account was accessed one or more times from the Huddleston IP address on 165 of the 243 calendar days immediately prior to March 16, 2006," the brief reads. "On at least one occasion, an attachment from OFN's chief accountant to the partners containing confidential financial information about the firm had been opened and reviewed."

In addition, Markins' firm and OFN were representing clients on different sides of a mass litigation involving a flood while he was electronically snooping.

"Huddleston could not locate any compromised information about the mass flood litigation [on its computer system]. OFN could not establish that [Markins] accessed otherwise confidential client information about the mass flood litigation," the brief states.

However, Markins did not let others check his home computer, according to the brief.

OFN notified its major clients about the security breach and told them that the firm did not think that any information had been compromised, the brief states.

Suspicions aroused

According to his attorney profile on John Fowler PLLC's Web site, Markins graduated from Marshall University in 1997. Four years later, he earned his law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law.

"His practice focuses on insurance defense, construction law and trucking and transportation matters," the profile reads. "Mr. Markins has also successfully defended matters involving allegations of professional negligence against lawyers and insurance agents."

His wife, Andrea Nease Markins, went to work for OFN after she graduated from law school in May 2003, the brief states. When she started going to more work-related social functions, her husband became suspicious and started checking her personal e-mail account, according to the brief.

Finding a suggestive joke from an OFN client in her account, Michael Markins started to monitor her work account also.

"From his wife's e-mail address, [Markins] was able to determine he could gain access to various OFN e-mail accounts ... by going to the OFN main Web page, clicking on a link, and typing in an e-mail address and a person's last name," the brief states.

When asked why he began accessing accounts of other OFN lawyers, Markins told the subcommittee: "Initially, just one, wanting to find out what was going on with my wife, and then it expanded from there just out of curiosity, almost because - I hate to say it, and I don't mean to sound flippant about it, but just because you can ..."

A Charleston lawyer could be suspended from the State Bar after admitting that he accessed another law firm's computer system because he suspected his wife was having an affair.

According to a brief filed with the state Supreme Court by the Bar's Lawyer Disciplinary Board, Michael P. Markins repeatedly accessed e-mail accounts at Offutt, Fisher and Nord, where his wife, Andrea N. Markins, worked as an associate.

Between November 2003 and March 2006, Markins logged on to OFN's system more than 150 times, the brief states. At the time, he worked for the law firm Huddleston Bolen LLP.

Markins told investigators that he initially read the e-mails of his wife and another OFN lawyer because he suspected an affair. But he then began reading other lawyers' e-mails out of "selfish curiosity," the brief states.

"Available data from the computer system shows that the OFN account was accessed one or more times from the Huddleston IP address on 165 of the 243 calendar days immediately prior to March 16, 2006," the brief reads. "On at least one occasion, an attachment from OFN's chief accountant to the partners containing confidential financial information about the firm had been opened and reviewed."

In addition, Markins' firm and OFN were representing clients on different sides of a mass litigation involving a flood while he was electronically snooping.

"Huddleston could not locate any compromised information about the mass flood litigation [on its computer system]. OFN could not establish that [Markins] accessed otherwise confidential client information about the mass flood litigation," the brief states.

However, Markins did not let others check his home computer, according to the brief.

OFN notified its major clients about the security breach and told them that the firm did not think that any information had been compromised, the brief states.

Suspicions aroused

According to his attorney profile on John Fowler PLLC's Web site, Markins graduated from Marshall University in 1997. Four years later, he earned his law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law.

"His practice focuses on insurance defense, construction law and trucking and transportation matters," the profile reads. "Mr. Markins has also successfully defended matters involving allegations of professional negligence against lawyers and insurance agents."

His wife, Andrea Nease Markins, went to work for OFN after she graduated from law school in May 2003, the brief states. When she started going to more work-related social functions, her husband became suspicious and started checking her personal e-mail account, according to the brief.

Finding a suggestive joke from an OFN client in her account, Michael Markins started to monitor her work account also.

"From his wife's e-mail address, [Markins] was able to determine he could gain access to various OFN e-mail accounts ... by going to the OFN main Web page, clicking on a link, and typing in an e-mail address and a person's last name," the brief states.

When asked why he began accessing accounts of other OFN lawyers, Markins told the subcommittee: "Initially, just one, wanting to find out what was going on with my wife, and then it expanded from there just out of curiosity, almost because - I hate to say it, and I don't mean to sound flippant about it, but just because you can ..."

'Shock and surprise'

Eventually, one of OFN's lawyers began to suspect that her e-mail account had been improperly accessed. The firm's computer consultant found that an IP address belonging to the Huddleston firm had been used to read e-mail on multiple occasions.

While OFN couldn't tell which e-mails Markins read, they could tell whose accounts he had accessed. And they could tell if he opened an attachment in an e-mail, including such confidential partnership documents as a client billing summary and a report listing the firm's daily receipts.

OFN's investigation showed that Markins' forays originated mostly from IP addresses at his home, office, and on one occasion, a Beckley hotel where he was staying during a mass flood litigation trial.

When OFN partner D.C. Offutt confronted Andrea Markins about her husband, she "expressed shock and surprise," according to the brief.

While she acknowledged that her husband had been home on one of the nights their home account had been used to access OFN's network, she said she had no idea that he was doing so and denied telling him how to get into the system.

Offutt put her on administrative leave with pay. Later that day, her husband's attorney called OFN and said that Andrea Markins had told her husband two days earlier that the firm was searching for the intruder and she thought they were close to catching him. Markins had confessed to his wife that he was the intruder, his attorney said.

OFN later fired Andrea Markins "for being untruthful," the brief states.

Consequences

 Huddleston placed Markins on unpaid administrative leave for two months, and then fired him. He was later hired by John R. Fowler PLLC at $80,000 a year, $2,000 more than he was making at Huddleston, according to the brief.

In its brief, the Lawyer Disciplinary Board recommended that Markins' law license be suspended for two years. Also, the panel recommends 12 hours of continuing legal education in the area of ethics before reinstatement, followed by one year of supervised practice.

"[Markins'] activity was injurious to the OFN and Huddleston firms through economic and non-economic costs incurred in investigating the unauthorized access of the OFN e-mail server and the potential loss of clients," the brief states. "[Markins] also committed a criminal act and violated the privacy of OFN e-mail account holders by stealing their online identity, all to satisfy [his] own selfish curiosity."

Reached on Friday, Markins' attorney, Mike Callaghan, said his client disagrees with the proposed penalty and has filed his own brief with the state Supreme Court.

"Basically, that's a very harsh punishment for the conduct," Callaghan said. "The core of our brief [is] that the punishment is excessive for the acts committed."

Arguments over the appropriate sanctions are scheduled for April 1 in front of the state Supreme Court.

To contact staff writer Andrew Clevenger, use e-mail or call 348-1723.