Leaked audio obtained by the Washington Post and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution caught Donald Trump harassing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to accept a string of already debunked election fraud myths and to just “find 11,780 votes” that would deliver Georgia’s electoral votes to Trump. Is that a violation of both state and federal election laws? ALMOST ASSUREDLY! Was there a lawyer on the call who failed to protect her client from running face first into potential criminal liability? YUP!

But what made this call so incredible is that the lawyer Trump chose to bring with him wasn’t drawn from the bumbling crew of free agents willing to trade their professional credibility for an opportunity to leak hair dye on national television, but Foley & Lardner’s Cleta Mitchell. Mitchell was already brazenly spreading myths about “voter fraud” on all the networks that Trump likes to watch, so it was perhaps inevitable that he’d reach out. What wasn’t inevitable is that a Biglaw firm would allow one of their partners to officially drag them into this mess.

This isn’t the first time Mitchell’s practice has put Foley & Lardner in the hot seat. She was caught on tape running a gerrymandering seminar where she advised state legislators to destroy their notes before they go home so they won’t become part of a discovery request. Document retention policies are, fundamentally, about making sure material doesn’t end up getting produced, but it’s a considerable leap from “we delete all your emails older than six months” to “don’t take notes because we’re about to commit some civil rights violations.” That’s some Stringer Bell stuff right there.

But gerrymandering is the polite form of disenfranchisement. It’s the sort of thing Ben Ginsberg could devote his life to and still get a pat on the back from MSNBC. Leaning on state election officials to conjure up favorable votes is a lot harder for a major law firm to spin

A national lawyers group on Monday called for professional licensing bodies to investigate East Texas congressman Louie Gohmert and his attorneys for what it called a “self-evident breach” of ethics rules for lawyers when they sued unsuccessfully last week to try to force Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Lawyers Defending American Democracy, a nonpartisan group that says it has the support of 5,000 lawyers across the country, said in a statement that Gohmert, Dallas lawyer William L. “Lewis” Sessions and unnamed other lawyers should be sanctioned for egregious conduct.

They brought a “specious” lawsuit that was “premised on an absurd reading of the 12th Amendment,” which directs the vice president as the U.S. Senate’s presiding officer to open vote certifications from the various states, the group said......

Last month, it called for the state bar of Texas to investigate state Attorney General Ken Paxton and for disciplinary bodies in other states to consider sanctions against 17 of Paxton’s counterparts in red states who sued in the Supreme Court in a vain attempt to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The group said discipline also should be considered against any lawyers among the 126 GOP members of the U.S. House who supported the Paxton-led suit

A national lawyers group on Monday called for professional licensing bodies to investigate East Texas congressman Louie Gohmert and his attorneys for what it called a “self-evident breach” of ethics rules for lawyers when they sued unsuccessfully last week to try to force Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Lawyers Defending American Democracy, a nonpartisan group that says it has the support of 5,000 lawyers across the country, said in a statement that Gohmert, Dallas lawyer William L. “Lewis” Sessions and unnamed other lawyers should be sanctioned for egregious conduct.

They brought a “specious” lawsuit that was “premised on an absurd reading of the 12th Amendment,” which directs the vice president as the U.S. Senate’s presiding officer to open vote certifications from the various states, the group said......

Last month, it called for the state bar of Texas to investigate state Attorney General Ken Paxton and for disciplinary bodies in other states to consider sanctions against 17 of Paxton’s counterparts in red states who sued in the Supreme Court in a vain attempt to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The group said discipline also should be considered against any lawyers among the 126 GOP members of the U.S. House who supported the Paxton-led suit

Dominion Voting Systems plans to sue attorney Sidney Powell "imminently" for defamation, and is continuing to explore similar suits against President Trump and others, company founder and CEO John Poulos told the Axios Re:Cap podcast on Monday.

Between the lines: Dominion, which makes the voting machines used in Georgia and elsewhere, has been the subject of baseless accusations of malfeasance during last November's elections.

Trump, during his leaked call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, called the U.S.-based company "corrupt" and had to be corrected by Raffensperger after claiming machines had been recently removed and/or altered by Dominion employees.
Dominion says that the rhetorical barrage has led to death threats against its employees, including one who remains unable to return to his home.