CONFERENCE REPORT: High-Profile Discipline Brings Unique Challenges

When a disciplinary complaint concerns a high-profile attorney, lawyers who routinely handle disciplinary matters face additional layers of complication relating to fairness, confidentiality, transparency, and public confidence.

These issues were explored in “Process and Public Trust Facets of High-Profile Lawyer Investigation,” a session at the American Bar Association’s 51st National Conference on Professional Responsibility in Los Angeles.

Panelists agreed that a lawyer’s notoriety shouldn’t affect regulators’ decision to pursue discipline. “It’s not fair for notoriety to matter,” explained Ellen C. Brotman, of BrotmanLaw in Philadelphia. The rule should be, “any attorney that has this misconduct, we are going to prosecute.” ...