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In the weeks following the defeat of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, his main lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, repeatedly made unsubstantiated accusations of widespread election fraud and the campaign generated a veritable “ flood ” of lawsuits that led to contest the results, many of which have been fired.
Democratic Rep Bill Pascrell last Friday asked Giuliani, and other members of his legal team, to withdraw their licenses to practice, accusing them of opening “frivolous” lawsuits and allegedly trying to help Republican Trump to “divert” votes. November 3 to President-elect Joe Biden.
But, according to legal ethics experts, heard by “Reuters”, lawyer discipline is relatively rare, especially in politically tense disputes, thus leaving these professionals with enormous leeway. Even considering it “very unlikely” that Trump’s lawyers face a dismissal, suspension or even lighter penalties, which could result in fines.
In the United States, the 50 states and the District of Columbia have legal ethics rules for attorneys that derive from standards published by the American Bar Association (ABA).
An ABA rule says lawyers should only file a complaint with the court if “there is a legal and de facto basis for doing so without taking it lightly.” But individually, there are rules that prohibit lawyers from making false statements to third parties and engaging in misleading behavior.
Judges can punish lawyers who have violated ethical rules in a particular case by ordering them to pay the winning party’s fees, and they can also impose lighter penalties, such as removing a dubious document from the court record. These case-specific penalties are known as “Article 11 penalties” of the federal court.
Ethical rules are also enforced by regulatory bodies, usually “complaints committees” administered by state judicial circles. These bodies can suspend a lawyer or revoke his license.
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