Giuliani set to lose DC law license, bar says

A legal ethics committee in Washington that oversaw a year-end disciplinary case against Rudolph W. Giuliani recommended on Friday that he be disbarred for his “unprecedented” attempts to nullify the 2020 election in favor of his client at the time, President Donald J. Trump. .

In its recommendation, the DC Bar’s Board of Trustees Panel on Professional Responsibility said Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to “undermine the integrity” of the election had “contributed to destabilizing our democracy” and “carried lasting damage” to the oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. that he had sworn on his call to the bar.

While the panel acknowledged the public service record of Mr. Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and US attorney in Manhattan, it also noted that “this all happened a long time ago.”

“The misconduct here sadly transcends all of his past accomplishments,” the panel wrote. “He was unprecedented in his destructive purpose and effect. He sought to disrupt a presidential election and persists in his refusal to acknowledge the harm he has done.

Mr Giuliani’s hearing before the ethics committee took place in December and focused on the role he played in filing a lawsuit in federal district court in Philadelphia seeking to delay certification election results in Pennsylvania.

The federal judge who heard the Pennsylvania case dismissed it, likening it to a “Frankenstein’s monster” that had been “randomly assembled”. A federal appeals court later upheld the dismissal in a scathing order from a Trump-appointed judge who noted that “calling an election unfair doesn’t make it that way.”

The Washington Legal Ethics Committee determined that Mr. Giuliani brought the action “when he had no factual basis, and therefore no legitimate legal basis, for doing so.”

“He claimed massive voter fraud but had no proof of it,” the panel wrote. “In pursuing this destructive case, Mr. Giuliani, a sworn court officer, lost his right to practice law.”

A local appeals court in Washington will ultimately decide to revoke his license to practice law in the city. He has already had his license suspended in New York. One of his lawyers, Barry Kamins, said he was disappointed with the committee’s recommendation to Washington and would file “a vigorous appeal”.

The ethics committee’s recommendation was the latest example of bar authorities holding lawyers accountable for trying to help Mr. Trump overturn the election results and maintain his grip on power.

In March, as part of a negotiated settlement with Colorado State Bar officials, attorney Jenna Ellis admitted that she knowingly misrepresented the facts in several of her public claims that widespread voter fraud had led to the defeat of Mr. Trump. Ms. Ellis has worked closely with Mr. Giuliani in various attempts to keep Mr. Trump in power.

Another attorney who participated in those attempts, John Eastman, is currently facing a disciplinary hearing by California bar officials that could result in the loss of his attorney’s license. Mr. Eastman, a law professor, was the architect of a plan to pressure Vice President Mike Pence into using his position as Senate Speaker to unilaterally launch the election for Mr. Trump during of a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021. .

Potential disbarment is not the only legal problem Mr. Giuliani faces. Late last year, he received a grand jury subpoena from federal prosecutors who are considering criminal charges related to Mr. Trump’s various attempts to stay in power.

Last month, Mr. Giuliani sat down for an interview with prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the election interference investigation.