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“We say entering the legal pro- a huge part of the problem is sys-
fession imposes duties of integrity temic in that they’re not allowed
and truthfulness—and we should to tell people what they’re doing
act in accordance,” she added. Disciplinary counsel in D.C. about any complaint,” Frisch said.
Andrea Ferster, a signatory on said they generally do not While the explanation for not
the complaint who served as presi- “intervene in matters that looking into the Barr complaint
dent of the D.C. Bar from 2013-14, are currently and publicly further was given in August 2020,
noted that the Office of Disciplin- being discussed in the it may have more significance now
ary Counsel has been initiating national political arena.” as attorneys involved in lawsuits
investigations against other attor- seeking to overturn last year’s
neys who are facing the same rule One legal ethics expert presidential election are facing
violations that Barr was accused of said that explanation scrutiny over their tactics.
in the complaint, including a lack “seems dangerously Trump-aligned attorneys such
of candor. overbroad.” as Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood
“It’s ironic and disheartening are the subject of pending sanc-
that the same standards are not ap- tion motions in several federal
plied to the chief law enforcement courts. A federal judge in the East-
officer for our nation who has en- ern District of Michigan this week
gaged in a similar lack of candor, indeed making set a July 6 hearing over those potential sanctions.
misleading and inaccurate statements to his client, Rudy Giuliani, a member of the D.C. bar, is facing
the United States of America,” Ferster said. complaints in New York as well after he called for
However, that doesn’t mean Barr’s conduct isn’t “trial by combat” in the hours before the siege on
being examined at all. Michael Frisch, ethics counsel the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, following his role in the
at Georgetown University Law Center who previ- postelection suits.
ously spent 18 years working on ethics complaints Green said most of the ethics issues tied to the
and other attorney discipline issues in D.C., said election are over frivolous lawsuits filed over the re-
it’s possible that disciplinary counsel have taken up sults, which disciplinary authorities will generally
some of the former attorney general’s conduct on leave to the judges presiding over those cases. The
their own, as a complaint isn’t required for an inves- D.C. bar also wouldn’t have jurisdiction over most
tigation to start. of those attorneys, with the exception of Giuliani, as
Still, he expressed frustration with the dismissal they are members of different bars.
of this complaint. He said while other ethics com- “They have to say to themselves on one hand,
plaints filed against different Trump administration we generally don’t bring disciplinary cases against
officials, such as Kellyanne Conway, might be viewed people who file frivolous litigation. Is this differ-
as more political, this one didn’t fall into that buck- ent, in one way or the other, when you have 62 of
et. “I do think that what motivated this complaint is these cases?” Green said. “Is that a problem when
real concern about Barr’s abuse of power, and they it’s used, not because you actually expect to win or
should be investigating that and they have an obliga- want to win, but to create fodder to deceive mem-
tion to investigate that,” Frisch said. bers of the public about the election results? Does
He also pointed to a general lack of transparency that make a difference, or is it not really different,
in the disciplinary process as doing little to earn the leave it to the courts?” ■
legal community’s trust that attorneys who behave
badly, regardless of their role, are being held account- Jacqueline Thomsen, based in Washington, is a re-
able. The outcomes of these kinds of complaints are porter covering D.C. federal courts and the legal
rarely known as they are generally not made public. side of politics. Contact her at [email protected]
“What really needs to be understood here, I think, is and follow her on Twitter @jacq_thomsen.
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