Michigan commission accuses lawyers who tried to overturn 2020 election of misconduct

Lansing — The Michigan commission in charge of investigating the misdeeds of lawyers says nine attorneys who attempted to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election committed misconduct and should face discipline, according to a complaint obtained by The Detroit News.

The document, dated Monday, reveals that the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission is seeking to formally penalize some of the most vocal proponents of the legal effort to reverse Republican Donald Trump's loss, including Texas lawyer Sidney Powell and Georgia lawyer Lin Wood.

In the weeks after the November 2020 election, they brought a lawsuit in federal court in Michigan attempting to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's win in the state based on a bevy of conspiracy theories and fraud claims that had been contradicted by election experts. Powell once described the national legal push to challenge the election as releasing the "kraken."

The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission is the prosecutorial arm of the Michigan Supreme Court. The filing of a formal complaint with the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board means a hearing will take place before a panel of lawyers on the misconduct allegations, whether there should be a penalty and what it should be.

The discipline board will appoint a hearing panel consisting of three volunteer attorneys to preside over the matter, according to its website.

"The matter can be decided through a public hearing following which the hearing panel must issue a report determining whether the attorney engaged in misconduct," the board's website says of the process.

Anyone can ask the grievance commission to launch an investigation into a lawyer. But the process is secretive.

The discipline board's office hasn't responded to questions this week from The News about the existence of new filings.

The board's disciplinary action could range from nothing to a reprimand to a suspension of law licenses to disbarment. Some states recognize disciplinary decisions made in others, so a penalty in Michigan could affect an attorney who isn't a licensed member of the State Bar of Michigan.

The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission said the nine lawyers involved in the November 2020 lawsuit engaged in conduct "that is contrary to justice, ethics, honesty or good morals," according to the complaint.

The commission also said the lawyers had brought a proceeding where the basis for doing so was "frivolous" and had engaged in conduct that was "prejudicial to the administration of justice."

Their actions had violated court rules, the formal complaint says.

The complaint, signed by Kimberly Uhuru, a deputy administrator for the commission, came about 29 months after the pro-Trump group filed its election lawsuit in Michigan. Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, previously criticized the commission for how long its process had taken.

The commission's complaint cited sanctions that were imposed against the lawyers in 2021 by Detroit U.S. District Judge Linda Parker. The judge ordered Powell and the other lawyers to pay $175,250 in legal fees to the state of Michigan and city of Detroit.

U.S. District Judge Linda Parker of Michigan's Eastern District said the penalty was "an appropriate sanction," and "an amount the court finds needed to deter plaintiffs’ counsel and others from engaging in similar misconduct in the future."

The suit seeking to overturn the election represented "a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process," the judge wrote in her August 2021 decision to require sanctions against the lawyers who worked on the effort.

Attorneys had an obligation to present "only tenable claims" with due diligence and in good faith, Parker ruled. But the attorneys in the election case presented claims backed by neither evidence nor law, she wrote.

Powell and the other attorneys have challenged the sanctions in the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. That challenge is still pending.

Powell has contended that the legal team had a duty to raise difficult issues on behalf of their clients.

"We have practiced law with the highest standards," Powell said in 2021. "We would file the same complaints again. We welcome an opportunity to actually prove our case. No court has ever given us that opportunity."

Detroit, Michigan's largest municipality and a Democratic stronghold, took center stage in Powell's election suit. David Fink, a lawyer who represented the city in the case, said his team is pleased the commission was moving forward with its complaint.

"As Judge Parker ruled, it is important that these attorneys be held accountable for their actions," Fink said.

In addition to Powell and Wood, the commission is also seeking disciplinary action against three Michigan attorneys: Gregory Rohl, Scott Hagerstrom and Stefanie Lambert.

Lambert has been involved in a series of election-related cases and was one of nine people whom Attorney General Dana Nessel referred to a special prosecutor in August over an alleged conspiracy to tamper with voting machines. The special prosecutor's review is ongoing, and Lambert's attorney has denied that she did anything illegal.

The other lawyers whom the commission listed in its complaint are Julia Haller of Washington, D.C., Brandon Johnson of Washington, D.C., Emily Newman of Virginia and Howard Kleinhendler of New York.

cmauger@detroitnews.com