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Reuters
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
US Attorney General Bondi's brother loses election to lead Washington DC bar
June 9 (Reuters) - Brad Bondi, the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, has lost his bid to lead Washington's attorney bar association after an unusually closely-watched election that drew record turnout from the U.S. capital's 120,000 lawyers. Bondi, a partner and co-chair of the investigations and white-collar defense practice at law firm Paul Hastings, lost the race to serve as bar president to Diane Seltzer, an employment law attorney at The Seltzer Law Firm. D.C. Bar CEO Robert Spagnoletti announced the results on Monday after a race that the group said drew a record 38,600 ballots, up from 7,500 in the last election. Seltzer secured more than 90 percent of the vote, Spagnoletti said. Bondi in a statement said "although I did not prevail, I stand with a heart full of gratitude and a mind heavy with concern for the future of the D.C. Bar." He said he was "disgusted by how rabid partisans lurched this election into the political gutter, turning a professional campaign into baseless attacks, identity politics, and partisan recrimination." Seltzer in a statement said the result showed that Washington's lawyers care about "maintaining the rule of law, being able to practice law without fear of retaliation, and having a leader who is experienced and has the qualifications to be in that position.' Some lawyers in Washington had issued warnings on social media that a Bondi victory could imperil the bar's independence, urging members to vote for Seltzer. Bondi said before the results were announced that he had run a non-partisan campaign for an apolitical post. Membership in the association is mandatory for D.C. lawyers. The group's 23-person board, of which the president is a member, plays a limited role in enforcing ethics rules for attorneys by recommending members to sit on a separate panel that oversees the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Bondi's candidacy rattled some lawyers due to his ties to the Trump administration. His sister, the attorney general, is a loyalist to President Donald Trump and has echoed some of Trump's false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Trump in March directed Pam Bondi to refer lawyers and law firms for disciplinary action if they appeared to violate professional conduct rules. That directive was part of an executive order that accused immigration lawyers of coaching their clients to lie. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, created by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, has authority to investigate attorney misconduct and to recommend suspending or disbarring lawyers. It pursued several cases against attorneys involved in efforts to overturn Trump's defeat to Democrat Joe Biden during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The appeals court can reject recommendations from the bar association's board, and the bar's president cannot sway investigatory decisions, according to Spagnoletti. Voting in the D.C. Bar election began on April 15, after Trump launched a pressure campaign on the U.S. legal industry through executive orders against law firms with ties to his legal or political adversaries.
CNN
8 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Brother of AG Pam Bondi and a former Ed Martin aide lose bid to take over DC Bar
Bradley Bondi, the brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi, overwhelmingly lost his bid to be the next president of the DC Bar in a closely watched election that drew national attention, the organization announced Monday. The powerful organization plays a limited role in enforcing ethics rules, but critics of President Donald Trump raised concerns over Bondi running the group at a time of increasing tension between the legal profession and the Trump administration. Diane Seltzer, an employment law attorney who ran on a platform of supporting members during a time of 'great uncertainty' won the election receiving 34,982 votes. Bondi garnered 3,490 votes. 'I trusted that our members would elect a president-elect who they know will be fierce for them and hear them with respect to the issues that matter [to them],' Seltzer said after learning about the election results. Alicia Long, a former adviser to Trump US Attorney nominee Ed Martin and who now serves as principal DC US Attorney under Jeanine Pirro, also lost decisively in a bid to be the treasurer of the organization. The failed bids of Trump allies Bondi and Long come as the Trump administration has targeted top law firms in the country with executive orders, directing them to stop hiring employees, suspending their security clearances and stopping them from doing business with the federal government. 'I am disgusted by how rabid partisans lurched this election into the political gutter, turning a professional campaign into baseless attacks, identity politics, and partisan recrimination. Never before has a DC Bar election been leveraged along partisan lines in this way, an explicit call for members to vote based not on what's best for the institution but according to their political affiliations,' Bondi said in a statement provided to CNN on the outcome of the DC Bar election. 'Their tactics, which included smearing me over my family and peddling conspiracies about my intentions, were not just an assault on my integrity but on the D.C. Bar's very mission.' According to the press release from the DC Bar, there were over 89,000 members of the DC bar eligible to vote in this year's election. The organization received a 43% member turnout for the election.
CNA
26-05-2025
- CNA
Woman who acted as a lawyer when she did not have a practising certificate pleads guilty
SINGAPORE: Despite not having a practising certificate, a former lawyer pretended that she could still represent clients in legal proceedings and give legal advice. Helen Chia Chwee Imm, 55, was not authorised to act as a lawyer due to a bankruptcy order, but did so and charged two clients close to S$40,000 (US$31,200) in legal fees. The Singaporean has since been struck off as a lawyer following disciplinary proceedings. On Monday (May 26), Chia pleaded guilty to one charge under the Legal Profession Act for falsely claiming that she was authorised to act as a lawyer, and to one count of cheating. Two similar charges will be taken into consideration for her sentencing, which was adjourned to Friday. FIRST VICTIM SOUGHT ADVICE ON SON'S CARE, CUSTODY Chia was admitted to the roll of advocates and solicitors on Aug 11, 1999, but did not have a practising certificate from Dec 17, 2016, to May 30, 2018, due to a bankruptcy order made against her. The order was annulled on May 22, 2018. On Dec 18, 2016, a woman emailed Chia to arrange for a consultation on matters relating to the care and custody of her son. This victim resolved the issues without Chia's involvement, but contacted Chia again in August 2017 after disputes arose with her son's father. She then engaged Chia as a lawyer. Chia did not have a practising certificate but concealed that fact. On Aug 25, 2017, Chia met the woman and collected S$2,000 in legal fees. Between Oct 12, 2017, and Nov 9, 2017, Chia gave the victim legal advice on a court application related to the custody and care matters. Chia also drafted supporting affidavits and vetted summons for the court application. The court application was filed on Nov 9, 2017, in the Family Justice Courts under another lawyer's name. Chia deliberately excluded her name as she knew she was not authorised to act for the woman. Later, the victim wanted Chia to attend a mediation session for the care and custody matters, and Chia finally told her that she was an undischarged bankrupt. However, Chia made it seem that her bankruptcy order had been set aside. She continued to give the impression that she was authorised to act as the woman's lawyer. During a text message exchange on Mar 22, 2018, the woman sent Chia a text stating: "I was so worried you wouldn't get (a practising certificate) in time and I had to last minute find another lawyer. "I trust only you to represent me," she added. Chia simply replied: "Don't panic." She did not come clean about her lack of a practising certificate. Chia then got another lawyer to attend the woman's court hearing on Apr 11, 2018, despite promising the victim that she would attend the hearing. She asked the same lawyer to attend a court hearing on May 8, 2018, to collect the judgment for the woman's case, and avoided meeting the woman near the court. "The accused suggested that they meet elsewhere and told (the woman) that there may be a delay in collecting the judgment even on the 'decision day' as some judges would ask parties to provide more information (on) various issues," court documents stated. In total, Chia collected S$13,685.60 from the woman in legal fees and disbursements. SECOND VICTIM A FRIEND GOING THROUGH A DIVORCE Chia was friends with the second victim, who approached her for legal help for divorce proceedings on around Feb 12, 2018. This woman wanted to apply for a personal protection order. The two met the next day, and the victim engaged Chia to act for her. Chia hid her lack of practising certificate from this victim. She quoted the victim S$20,000 in legal fees, which she described as a "friend rate" that was a third of her usual rates. She told the victim about her follow-up steps for the legal proceedings and asked for a cash payment of S$3,000 as a deposit. Eventually, on Chia's advice, an application for an expedited order for the victim's personal protection order was filed. Chia again got another lawyer to attend the court mentions for this application. The victim voiced her concerns about this other lawyer's performance in court, as he seemed to be unfamiliar with her case, but Chia reassured the victim that they were working on the case together. The victim paid S$23,000 to Chia on May 2, 2018, in the form of a cash cheque. In total, the victim forked out S$26,000 before she found out through a Straits Times article that Chia was a bankrupt facing disciplinary proceedings. A disciplinary tribunal was later appointed to hear and investigate a complaint of misconduct against Chia. On Oct 26, 2021, the disciplinary tribunal found that the charges against Chia were made out. Chia was struck off on Aug 15, 2022. She made full restitution to the two victims in January 2025. Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Tay sought six to 12 months' jail for Chia. She said that Chia had offended for a long period of nine months, and showed premeditation in her actions. CLIENT HAD DEPRESSION DUE TO PAST CASES HANDLED Chia's lawyer Nicholas Jeyaraj Narayanan highlighted Chia's personal circumstances in mitigation. Mr Narayanan said his client, who had specialised in family law, had been suffering from depression due to two tragic incidents involving her clients. Chia had been the lawyer of a woman whose son was killed by his father in 2015. "In the aftermath of the tragedy, there were murmurings in the Family Bar that the affidavit that our client had drafted for (the boy's mother) was the final straw that drove the father to take the life of his son the day after he was served with the mother's affidavit," said the defence counsel. "Our client did not know what to make of the foregoing murmurings, but it made her feel deeply responsible that she played a part in the father's actions to suffocate his son." He added that Chia had advised the mother to give the father overnight access to their son. While reluctant, the mother had followed her advice. It was during this access time that the father killed the boy. Chia blamed herself for this, wondering if the boy would still be alive if she had advised her client differently, Mr Narayanan said. "She prayed to cope, but the overwhelming guilt kept coming back to her," he said. "She had her own young daughter, and the pain a mother undergoes over the loss of a child cannot be described." The second tragedy was in 2016 when a female client she represented was slashed by her ex-husband. In 2016, the mother in the 2015 case filed a complaint against Chia for overcharging her in legal fees, but this was dismissed. However, the proceedings added to Chia's emotional distress. In her application to annul her bankruptcy order, Chia said the culmination of both these cases resulted in her being complacent and careless about her affairs. A psychiatrist stated in a report that Chia "probably suffered from post-traumatic stress symptoms" following the incidents. "However, the severity and incapacity of her symptoms could not be ascertained as a professional clinician did not evaluate her then," added Mr Narayanan. He also noted that one of Chia's clients started harassing her in June 2020, forcing Chia to file a protection order against her. This client "dredged up the 2015 tragedy", causing Chia to suffer a panic attack, the lawyer said. This client sent harassing messages, including: "You caused a five-year-old boy to lose his life. You also tried to ruin my son's life. I will see that you suffer your doomed fate behind bars."
Straits Times
11-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Forum: Steps taken to build sustainable legal careers
We read with interest the commentary by professors Lee Pey Woan and Chen Siyuan 'Raising the bar: Preparing lawyers to stay the course' (May 7), and we strongly support their call to reimagine legal education as a more holistic preparation for a meaningful, resilient career in law. At the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL), this is a challenge we take seriously. The concern over high attrition rates and the emotional toll of legal work is especially urgent in the face of global competition and the accelerating disruption brought about by generative artificial intelligence. To stay relevant and effective, legal professionals must commit to lifelong learning. Law school and the Bar exams are only the beginning. To provide the next step in training, SAL will launch the Junior Lawyers Professional Certification Programme later in May . The programme is a structured, practice-oriented training ecosystem that equips young lawyers not only with the technical skills, but also with the ethical grounding necessary to build sustainable legal careers. Lifelong learning must be supported by a coordinated training ecosystem. That is why SAL developed the Legal Industry Framework for Training and Education (Lifted). Created in consultation with the Law Society and Singapore Corporate Counsel Association, Lifted helps lawyers map their professional development and fosters a mindset of continuous learning across all stages of practice. But building a sustainable profession requires more than training. We also need to address workplace issues such as changing intergenerational expectations, evolving business models and the culture of legal practice. In collaboration with Harvard Law School's Centre on the Legal Profession, SAL will convene the second Legal Profession Symposium in July. The symposium will engage young lawyers to co-create solutions to the push factors they face in the workplace, as well as strengthen the profession's pull factors, such as our shared values and purpose. We thank the authors for sparking this timely and necessary conversation. SAL remains committed to supporting all members of the profession, especially our younger colleagues, in building not just successful careers, but also sustainable ones. Yeong Zee Kin Chief Executive Singapore Academy of Law More on this Topic Forum: What readers are saying Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
14-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Law firms' deals with Trump roil their staff, deepen industry rifts
April 14 (Reuters) - Law firms that have pledged $940 million so far in free legal work and made other concessions to U.S. President Donald Trump are facing a backlash from some of their own lawyers, who say the firms compromised too much to avoid a showdown with the administration. Los Angeles lawyer Siunik Moradian said on Monday that he received messages of support from people inside and outside his firm when he resigned on Friday from Simpson Thacher after its deal with Trump earlier in the day. "By capitulating today, Simpson Thacher joins several other historic, powerful, influential and well-resourced law firms in bending the knee and kissing the ring of authoritarianism," Moradian wrote in his resignation letter. He told Reuters that not enough individuals and institutions were standing up to the president, who has issued punitive executive orders against five law firms over their past legal work or political connections. "It takes intentional acts," Moradian said of his decision to resign as a Simpson Thacher associate. Jacqui Pittman, who was a Chicago-based associate at Kirkland, said she also resigned on Friday over her firm's deal with Trump the same day. Pittman wrote in a message to colleagues that she posted on LinkedIn that she "cannot continue at Kirkland in good conscience." Kirkland and Simpson Thacher did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday. Moradian and Pittman join lawyers at Skadden and Willkie Farr who also resigned over similar deals the firm reached with the president. Five firms on Friday agreed to devote between $100 million and $125 million in pro bono legal work to mutually supported causes with the administration and promised not to engage in what Trump called "illegal DEI discrimination." Four of the firms simultaneously settled on Friday with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which agreed to end a probe into their diversity policies. The settling firms "affirmed their strong commitment to ending the Weaponization of the Justice System and the Legal Profession," the White House said on Friday. Trump twice last week suggested using firms, opens new tab that made deals with him to work on trade negotiations. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The firms that have reached agreements with Trump — nine in all — have defended the deals publicly or in internal memos as necessary to protect their interests without compromising their principles. "We know and understand that this development may weigh heavily on some of you and that you may not agree with the path we have taken," Simpson Thacher chairman Alden Millard wrote to the firm on Friday. Hundreds of lawyers and staff at A&O Shearman, another firm that struck a deal with Trump on Friday, had signed a letter earlier in the day urging the firm not to do so. 'We appreciate that A&O Shearman and other law firms are facing an unprecedented threat," said the letter, which was viewed by Reuters. 'However, we firmly believe that agreements of this nature contribute to the degradation of the rule of law in the United States.' A&O Shearman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The firm said in an internal memo after its deal was announced that its agreement, which also included a $125 million pro bono pledge, was consistent with its "core values." More than 800 law firms signed court briefs on Friday denouncing Trump's executive orders targeting law firms, warning they "seek to cow every other firm, large and small, into submission." The executive orders called on officials to cancel federal contracts held by the firms' clients and restricted access by their lawyers to federal buildings and officials. Four firms — Susman Godfrey; WilmerHale; Jenner & Block; and Perkins Coie — are suing the administration over the orders against them, arguing that they violate protections for free speech and due process under the U.S. Constitution. Judges have issued orders so far blocking provisions of the orders against WilmerHale; Jenner; and Perkins Coie. Susman filed its lawsuit on Friday. Read more: Law firm targeted by Trump sues as five other top firms make deals Bondi ally leads defense of Trump orders against law firms Former top lawyers at major companies decry Trump orders against law firms More than 500 law firms back Perkins Coie suit against punitive Trump order Why target these law firms? For Trump, it's personal Fight or cut a deal? Law firms face stark choice under Trump
