Attorney Grievance Comm'n of Md. v. Singh

The phrase "no harm, no foul" derives from the idea that, if a foul committed in a basketball game does not affect the outcome, the referee should not call the foul. 1 It denotes harmless error in a sports context. The rules of professional conduct governing attorneys do not allow us to adopt that approach. Many of those rules are prophylactic in nature. We must call a foul when one is committed, although the severity of the harm - or a lack of harm - may affect the sanction.

Respondent Raj Sanjeet Singh is a Maryland attorney who primarily practices immigration law from an office in…