By Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) - A disbarred author who has written extensively on the law has failed to show he is fit to resume practicing in the profession, a Washington, D.C., attorney ethics panel said in a report released on Wednesday.
The report from a hearing committee of the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility recommended that the D.C. Court of Appeals, which administers attorney discipline in the nation's capital, deny Joel Joseph's petition to be reinstated to the bar.
The D.C. Court of Appeals in 2015 disbarred Joseph, 73, as a reciprocal penalty after a Maryland court took that action over allegations that he deceived state and federal courts in California about where he was living.
The committee called Joseph "an intellectually robust and curious person." Joseph has litigated public-interest cases and has written books on the Justice Department and the courts, including "Black Mondays: Worst Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court."
Court rules allow attorneys to seek "pro hac vice" admission to represent a client in a state where the lawyer doesn't live or work. Joseph told California courts he was a resident of Maryland, where he had a bar license, when in fact he was living in California, the panel said.
"The nature and circumstances of petitioner's misconduct is serious and troubling," the ethics panel wrote in its report. "Lying to a court about his residency to obtain admission pro hac vice directly relates to [his] honesty, integrity and judgment."
Joseph did not immediately respond to messages on Thursday seeking comment.
The head of the D.C. bar's disciplinary office, Hamilton "Phil" Fox III, declined to comment.
The ethics panel said Joseph "has not proven that he recognizes the seriousness of his misconduct."
Joseph's "ongoing description of himself as a lawyer" after his 2011 disbarment in Maryland "is misleading to the public," the panel said.
At a hearing in his case in February, Joseph argued: "I can call myself a lawyer as long as I have a JD degree."
He criticized any continued effort by bar regulators in D.C. to prevent him from practicing.
"They should be busy going after the attorneys who are really cheating clients and doing bad things," he said.
In a filing, Joseph said his "punishment has been unreasonably severe."
The case is In the Matter of Joel D. Joseph, D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, No. 21-BD-029.
Even physicians who have an MD degree, who have had their licenses restricted, are still free to identify themselves as physicians. Why should the same not be true of attorneys??
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