Career & Practice
Florida Bar reverses itself, says it is not investigating Lindsey Halligan
Lindsey Halligan, the former interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, is a member of the Florida Bar, which reversed its statement that it is investigating her.(Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press)
The Florida Bar said Friday that it is not investigating Lindsey Halligan, the former interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, contradicting a letter it sent last month in which it stated it had opened an inquiry into her conduct involving prosecutions of President Donald Trump’s political foes.
In a statement, a bar spokesperson said the organization’s counsel had “erroneously” stated that there was a “pending investigation” against Halligan in a Feb. 4 letter he sent to the nonprofit group Campaign for Accountability, which had filed a complaint against her. That letter was made public Thursday, when The Washington Post and other media outlets cited it to report that Halligan had drawn disciplinary scrutiny that could lead to disbarment.
Asked Thursday about the letter, the Florida Bar separately confirmed that there was an “open case” against Halligan. But less than a day later, the organization reversed course, saying there never had been an active investigation.
“There is no such pending Bar investigation of Lindsay Halligan,” bar spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis said. “In this case, The Florida Bar received a complaint against Lindsay Halligan and, consistent with standard practice, the Bar is monitoring the ongoing legal proceedings underlying the complaint.”
The about-face raised immediate questions about the bar association’s intentions surrounding one of Trump’s most controversial U.S. attorney appointees. Halligan, originally an insurance lawyer from Florida with no experience as a prosecutor, resigned as U.S. attorney in January under increasing pressure from federal judges in Virginia after a court ruled that she had been unlawfully appointed to her position.
Under the Florida Bar’s typical procedures, an intake officer first evaluates a complaint to determine if there is probable cause to open a formal investigation. The complaint against Halligan remains at that preliminary stage, Krell Davis said, pending ongoing legal proceedings involving her in Virginia.
During her brief tenure last year, Halligan secured indictments against former FBI director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, over the objection of career prosecutors in her office and after Trump publicly demanded that the Justice Department move swiftly to charge both. A federal judge dismissed both cases last year, ruling that the indictments were invalid because Halligan never had the authority to seek them.
The Justice Department, which maintains that Halligan was properly appointed, is appealing the court ruling dismissing the Comey and James cases.
The Campaign for Accountability filed bar complaints against Halligan in Virginia and Florida, citing concerns that federal judges had raised about her conduct before grand juries and her initial refusal to vacate her office after the ruling deeming her appointment invalid.
In a Feb. 4 response, Carlos A. Leon, counsel for the Florida Bar, said the organization was aware of the developments and was monitoring them closely. “We already have an investigation pending,” he wrote.
Michelle Kuppersmith, Campaign for Accountability’s executive director, said that despite the Florida Bar’s efforts to walk back those statements Friday, no one from her organization has heard anything official from the association since last month.
“If there is no longer an investigation into Halligan, the question is why not, given that three judges indicated she engaged in conduct that appears to violate ethics rules,” Kuppersmith said.
A federal magistrate judge overseeing aspects of Comey’s case said last year that it appeared Halligan had made “fundamental misstatements of the law” during her presentation to the grand jury in the case – ones so severe that they could compromise the future of the prosecution. But the case was thrown out before those concerns could be fully explored in court.
Other judges in Alexandria, where the Eastern District of Virginia is based, threatened disciplinary sanctions after Halligan refused to vacate her post and kept using the “U.S. attorney” title after the ruling disqualifying her from serving in the role.
Halligan has not responded to multiple requests for comment about the Campaign for Accountability’s complaint and the various statements from the Florida Bar.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, is pushing to rewrite regulations surrounding state bar investigations of department employees, saying the process has been weaponized in recent years by “political activists.”
The Florida Bar processes about 13,000 complaints a year regarding lawyers licensed in Florida, according to its website, just a quarter of which ultimately move beyond the intake stage. If a formal investigation is opened, the path to potential discipline or a settlement agreement can be lengthy and involve a grievance committee, administrative judges and the Florida Supreme Court.
The Virginia State Bar, which also received a complaint from the Campaign for Accountability about Halligan’s professional conduct, declined to comment on the specifics of the case but said in a statement that all bar complaints and investigations are confidential.
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