No sooner had the New York Times reported that the Florida Bar had opened a pending investigation into Lindsey Halligan — Trump’s now-former, always-phony U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia — than the organization backtracked to assure any retaliation-minded federal officials that it was just kidding about taking professional ethical obligations seriously.
Halligan’s misadventures as an insurance lawyer pretending to be the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia included a pair of high-profile faceplants attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and current NY Attorney General Letitia James on charges generously described as frivolous and ethically dubious Signal chats with a journalist about a pending case. After multiple federal judges took Halligan to task — with the most recent explicitly stating that he wasn’t referring her for discipline solely because of her inexperience — the Campaign for Accountability took it upon itself to renew its lengthy ethics complaint to both the Virginia Bar and Halligan’s home bar of Florida.
Virginia punted on its responsibilities, but Florida wrote a short letter acknowledging that it opened an investigation. Now that this news is public, Florida is spinning.
Speaking with The Hill, a Florida Bar spokesperson explained:
“In response to an inquiry from a complainant, The Florida Bar wrote a letter to the complainant erroneously stating that there is a pending Bar investigation of member Lindsay Halligan,” said Jennifer Krell Davis, director of communications for the state bar.
“There is no such pending Bar investigation of Lindsay Halligan,” she continued. “In this case, The Florida Bar received a complaint against Lindsay Halligan and, consistent with standard practice, the Bar is monitoring the ongoing legal proceedings underlying the complaint.”
What ongoing legal proceedings? She’s been benchslapped by three federal judges — benchslaps that include phrases like “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” and “misrepresentations to this Court” — and then quit. There aren’t any more legal proceedings to monitor. It’s done!
If any lawyer outside of this administration landed on a disciplinarian’s desk with a resume of alleged breaches like this, there would not be any “monitoring” of the situation. A federal judge stayed his hand citing her inexperience. If the Florida Bar wanted to take the position that it doesn’t enforce rules against inexperienced prosecutors, it could take that stance. Pretending the situation is somehow still in flux feels like a statement thrown together by a communications team trying desperately to come up with cover.
When rumors first started that Florida might be disavowing its earlier letter, Campaign for Accountability executive director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “CfA has not heard directly from the Florida Bar, but it’s hard to reconcile this latest statement with the bar counsel’s previous letter saying there is an investigation pending. If there is no longer an investigation into Halligan, the question is why not, given that three judges indicated she engaged in conduct that appears to violate ethics rules.”
But now Florida can consider itself clear of the DOJ’s wrath. All it took was overcoming that brief crisis of courage.
Florida Bar says it ‘erroneously’ stated Halligan is under investigation [The Hill]
Earlier: Lindsey Halligan Under Investigation And The DOJ Is Big Mad About It
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post When Florida Bar Said It Was Serious About Ethical Violations It MEANT To Say, ‘Yes, Sir. Glory To The MAGA Empire!’ appeared first on Above the Law.
No sooner had the New York Times reported that the Florida Bar had opened a pending investigation into Lindsey Halligan — Trump’s now-former, always-phony U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia — than the organization backtracked to assure any retaliation-minded federal officials that it was just kidding about taking professional ethical obligations seriously.
Halligan’s misadventures as an insurance lawyer pretending to be the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia included a pair of high-profile faceplants attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and current NY Attorney General Letitia James on charges generously described as frivolous and ethically dubious Signal chats with a journalist about a pending case. After multiple federal judges took Halligan to task — with the most recent explicitly stating that he wasn’t referring her for discipline solely because of her inexperience — the Campaign for Accountability took it upon itself to renew its lengthy ethics complaint to both the Virginia Bar and Halligan’s home bar of Florida.
Virginia punted on its responsibilities, but Florida wrote a short letter acknowledging that it opened an investigation. Now that this news is public, Florida is spinning.
Speaking with The Hill, a Florida Bar spokesperson explained:
“In response to an inquiry from a complainant, The Florida Bar wrote a letter to the complainant erroneously stating that there is a pending Bar investigation of member Lindsay Halligan,” said Jennifer Krell Davis, director of communications for the state bar.
“There is no such pending Bar investigation of Lindsay Halligan,” she continued. “In this case, The Florida Bar received a complaint against Lindsay Halligan and, consistent with standard practice, the Bar is monitoring the ongoing legal proceedings underlying the complaint.”
What ongoing legal proceedings? She’s been benchslapped by three federal judges — benchslaps that include phrases like “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” and “misrepresentations to this Court” — and then quit. There aren’t any more legal proceedings to monitor. It’s done!
If any lawyer outside of this administration landed on a disciplinarian’s desk with a resume of alleged breaches like this, there would not be any “monitoring” of the situation. A federal judge stayed his hand citing her inexperience. If the Florida Bar wanted to take the position that it doesn’t enforce rules against inexperienced prosecutors, it could take that stance. Pretending the situation is somehow still in flux feels like a statement thrown together by a communications team trying desperately to come up with cover.
When rumors first started that Florida might be disavowing its earlier letter, Campaign for Accountability executive director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “CfA has not heard directly from the Florida Bar, but it’s hard to reconcile this latest statement with the bar counsel’s previous letter saying there is an investigation pending. If there is no longer an investigation into Halligan, the question is why not, given that three judges indicated she engaged in conduct that appears to violate ethics rules.”
But now Florida can consider itself clear of the DOJ’s wrath. All it took was overcoming that brief crisis of courage.
Florida Bar says it ‘erroneously’ stated Halligan is under investigation [The Hill]
Earlier: Lindsey Halligan Under Investigation And The DOJ Is Big Mad About It
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post When Florida Bar Said It Was Serious About Ethical Violations It MEANT To Say, ‘Yes, Sir. Glory To The MAGA Empire!’ appeared first on Above the Law.
