Ex-Wisconsin supreme court justice who led investigation into 2020 election slapped with professional misconduct charges

 Read the full story here.

Rudy Giuliani's lawyers call it quits

 Well that took longer than I expected but it is not surprising.  Rudy Giuliani's lawyers have been trying to cover for his obvious attempts to avoid complying with court orders for a while and now that the judge finally threatened issuing an order for contempt of court, the lawyers apparently decided it was not worth to stick their necks out for their delinquent client.  

The specific reason or reasons for the two lawyers’ requested withdrawals aren’t fully clear because the court filing asking for withdrawal is partially redacted, but the lawyer's cited a rule equivalent to Model Rule 1.16(b)(4) which states that a lawyer may withdraw when the client insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant or with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement and another local rule that states that the lawyer can withdraw when the client fails to cooperate in the representation or otherwise renders the representation unreasonably difficult for the lawyer to carry out employment effectively.  

I assume these allegations are based on the fact that Giuliani tried to hide assets and kept avoiding complying with court orders. And let's not forget that he lost the defamation case because he refused to comply with discovery in the first place...

You can read more about the adventure it is to represent a client like Rudy and why it is better to step away from him here: 

The Hill

Law & Crime

MSNBC

Above the Law

By the end of the week, Giuliani had found a new lawyer and relinquished some of his property as obligated by the court's order.  The Guardian has that part of the story here.

Utah considers plan to allow law graduates to practice without having to take the bar exam

Above the Law is reporting (here) that the Utah Supreme Court recently released a plan to allow graduates of American Bar Association-accredited law schools to practice in the state after completing 240 hours of practice under the supervision of an experienced attorney, along with other requirements.  This would open the door for graduates to avoid taking the bar exam.  The ABA Journal has more on the story (and some links) here.

Another Trump lawyer is suspended for conduct related to attempt to interfere with 2020 election

A panel of judges on the New York Appellate Division — New York’s midlevel appeals court — ruled Thursday that Ken Chesebro is barred from practicing law in the state, “effective immediately,” following his guilty plea in Georgia’s 2020 election interference case against former President Trump and his allies.

For more on the story go to The Hill. Law & Crime, Courthouse News Service and MSNBC.