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Trouble for the Trump lawyers

17 September 2021 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7948 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Lawyers for Trump abused the judicial process: Michael Zander heralds the words that capture a memorable judgment
  • In August, US District Judge Linda Parker ruled against lawyers for former president Donald Trump for bringing a case that sought to overturn his clear election defeat last November in Michigan.

‘This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process’ were the first words of US District Judge Linda Parker’s 110-page opinion in proceedings successfully brought by the governor of Michigan and the city of Detroit against nine lawyers for the former President Trump. They sought sanctions and costs against the lawyers for bringing a case that sought to overturn Trump’s clear election defeat last November in Michigan.

The judge referred the nine senior lawyers to their respective Bar Associations for potential disbarment, (unusually) ordered them to pay the state and the city’s costs—and, for good measure, required that they undergo 12 hours of legal education on pleading and election law. Her careful and impressive judgment looks appeal-proof.

The judgment

Her

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NEWS
Judging is ‘more intellectually demanding than any other role in public life’—and far messier than outsiders imagine. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC reflects on decades spent wrestling with unclear legislation, fragile precedent and human fallibility
The long-predicted death of the billable hour may finally be here—and this time, it’s armed with a scythe. In a sweeping critique of time-based billing, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, argues in this week's NLJ that artificial intelligence has made hourly charging ‘intellectually, commercially and ethically indefensible’
From fake authorities to rent reform, the civil courts have had a busy start to 2026. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold surveys a procedural landscape where guidance, discretion and discipline are all under strain
Fact-finding hearings remain a fault line in private family law. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors analyse recent appeals exposing the dangers of rushed or fragmented findings
As the Winter Olympics open in Milan and Cortina, legal disputes are once again being resolved almost as fast as the athletes compete. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Ian Blackshaw of Valloni Attorneys examines the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS's) ad hoc divisions, which can decide cases within 24 hours
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