Once again, Trump lawyers give us a master class in how not to litigate. Donald Trump was sued in New York civil district court for civil fraud. Attorney General James claimed the Trumps perpetrated fraud among lenders when they vastly overstated the value of their holdings. A couple of days ago, the judge presiding over
Two conservative legal scholars argue that former Pres. Trump is barred from holding office. They point to Sec. 3 of the 14th Amendment which bars persons who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office in the U.S. government. That section of the 14th Amendment was aimed at former Confederates who might seek elected office. But, the
I have written about the Trump election lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani here and here. I expressed amazement that so many lawyers were willing to risk their law licenses advocating frivolous election claims. And, now the other shoe has dropped. A Washington D.C. attorney Bar committee has recommended that Rudy Giuliani be disbarred. It is
The nine pro-Trump lawyers from the Detroit election lawsuit have been sanctioned. I previously wrote about these sanctions here. In a court of appeals decision, the Sixth Circuit found that the lawyers, Sidney Powell and others, had lodged a “whole raft” of baseless claims alleging hostile foreign governments had accessed Dominion voting machines.
The
The crime fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege was instituted in reaction to the Watergate scandal of the 1970’s. Observers at the time were shocked how many attorneys were involved in the Watergate mess. It was also surprising at the time how often illegal plans were funneled through lawyers, simply because it was presumed the
In yet another marathon hearing in the New York AG civil lawsuit, Judge Engoron gave Donald Trump a second chance to file an Answer that reflects reality. I talked about his Answer here in which he contradicted previous testimony in other lawsuits.
The judge denied the New York Attorney General’s request for sanctions and ordered
One thing you do not do in court is lie to the judge. Telling a fib in a deposition is tantamount to lying to the Judge. Swearing to a falsehood in a statement is a lie in any court. Any party litigant must write this rule on his/her forehead: do not lie in any court
There is a reason why persons do not routinely – or ever – file weak lawsuits. First, a reputation for weak lawsuits will follow you from court to court. Second, the judge will get annoyed and sanction you. Judge Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida has done all the above. Former Pres. Trump filed
I previously talked here about Rudy Giuliani appearing in federal court and being woefully unprepared. He gave some really silly answers to serious questions court about his lawsuit. That should have been an embarrassing performance for an experienced litigator.
Now, a three lawyer committee has found that he violated one or more ethical rules in
We can disagree with the findings of some judges. But, the Trump appointed judges do seem to favor hyperbole. I wrote about a Fifth Circuit decision in which three Trump appointed judges argued that funding one federal agency through a second federal agency amounted to “despotism.” See that prior post here. Now, another Trump