Trump attorneys not the only targets: Florida lawyer says bar discipline fueled by political bias

A lawyer is facing potential discipline by the Florida Bar over complaints about his political campaign for a prosecutor position, not his representation of clients.

The case of Christopher Crowley bears similarities with Trump-allied attorneys who now face discipline by legal associations for their political activities and statements. It focuses on the divide between the ethics code of law professionals and their free speech guarantees under the First Amendment.

Mr. Crowley will appear this week before a Florida judge to seek a rehearing of his case. A previous judge said he intentionally misrepresented his opponent in his 2018 Republican primary campaign for circuit state attorney, who is the lead prosecutor over several counties.

He lost the primary election to Amira Fox, who now serves as state attorney for Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit, which includes: Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.

Critics of Mr. Crowley said his campaign misrepresented Ms. Fox’s conviction rate and suggested she had ties to terrorism through her father, because he’s Muslim. He also was accused of holding an unlawful raffle to raise campaign funds, an issue that eventually was settled via a diversion agreement.

The Florida Bar in 2020 initiated disciplinary action, accusing Mr. Crowley of misconduct, saying he had disparaged Ms. Fox during his campaign. A state judge in 2021 ruled in the bar’s favor, but she was removed from the case over a conflict of interest.

The case was put on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions and because Mr. Crowley was recalled to active duty with the Army Reserve Command in North Carolina.

“The Florida Bar has spent thousands of hours going after me purely for political speech,” Mr. Crowley told The Washington Times. “That is what shocks me … nothing to do with the courtroom, a motion, a client.

“I’ve never even had a bar complaint from a client,” he added.

A Washington Times review of the complaints found they focus primarily on his campaign efforts against Ms. Fox.

One complainant accused Mr. Crowley of race-baiting after Trump ally Roger Stone posted on social media his support for Mr. Crowley, saying the attorney would “expose the RADICAL MUSLIM” in reference to Ms. Fox.

The complainant said Mr. Crowley, having been associated with Mr. Stone’s language, violated a rule of professional conduct that says an attorney can’t defame another lawyer or judicial officer.

Under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, an attorney can be penalized for improper conduct, lack of competence when handling attorney-client relationships, conflicts of interest, lack of truthfulness in statements and other poor behavior.

“Statements that lawyers make outside of representation can be sanctionable if they involve dishonest conduct or otherwise raise questions about the lawyers’ fitness to practice law,” said Scott Cummings, a legal ethics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“Public statements in a political campaign — political speech — are nonetheless going to get the highest level of First Amendment protection, so it is both true that lawyers’ statements outside of court or even outside the context of representation can be considered to violate professional conduct norms … but context does matter,” Mr. Cummings said.

Neither the Florida Bar nor Ms. Fox responded to a request for comment.

John Eastman, an attorney who advised Donald Trump during the 2020 election, is facing a disciplinary bar action in California for his legal efforts and counseling of the former president.

In addition, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell faced disciplinary complaints, too, before their respective state bar associations due to their representation of Mr. Trump and his legal challenges to the 2020 election. 

Margaret C. Tarkington, a law professor who specializes in professional responsibility at Indiana University, said the Trump lawyers’ predicament is different from Mr. Crowley’s situation.

“Their situation is entirely different from this because they aren’t running for office themselves — none of them,” she said. “What they are mostly in trouble for, although some of it has a speech aspect, is for their advice and assistance in trying to keep President Trump installed.”

“That is a very serious problem. It is absolutely 100% about their legal representation whereas, this is not — [Mr. Crowley] is not representing anyone. He is just engaged in a campaign speech,” she said.

She also said she usually sees disciplinary actions for spreading falsehoods when the statements are against a sitting judge — not in a political race between prosecutors, calling Mr. Crowley’s case “bizarre.”

Ty Clevenger, an attorney who polices lawyer misconduct, said state bar associations are becoming too political.

“They are horribly political,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how conservative the state is, these institutions are always controlled by the left.”