Monday, September 4, 2023

Giuliani Should Lose His Law License in D.C., Bar Panel Says - The New York Times




The District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility has filed a complaint against former Trump lawyer, New York City Mayor, and United States Attorney for Southern District of New York Rudolph Giuliani. 
Among other things Giuliani is alleged - in the course of his representation of then-President Donald J. Trump's challenge to the reported results of the 2020 election - 
The D.C. Board charged Respondent Rudolph W. Giuliani with violating Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct 3.1 and 8.4(d), based on his prosecution of a lawsuit in Pennsylvania following the 2020 presidential election
to have filed pleadings  which "contained only vague and speculative allegations about random and isolated electoral irregularities which did not and could not support Respondent’s inflated legal claims."
Pennsylvania RPC 3.1, adopted by the Commonwealth's Supreme Court, provides:
Rule 3.1 - Meritorious Claims and Contentions

A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law. A lawyer for the defendant in a criminal proceeding, or the respondent in a proceeding that could result in incarceration, may nevertheless so defend the proceeding as to require that every element of the case be established.

Giuliani is further alleged to have violated Pennsylvania RPC 8.4(d).  It proviese It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:***

(d) engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice".


 The specification of charges  can be found at:

Giuliani Should Lose His Law License in D.C., Bar Panel Says - The New York Times


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

In its recommendation, the panel from the D.C. Bar’s board on professional responsibility said that Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to “undermine the integrity” of the election had “helped destabilize our democracy” and “done lasting damage” to the oath to support the U.S. Constitution that he had sworn when he was admitted to the bar.

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

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

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