Elite Washington lawyers are pushing back against a campaign being waged by the brother of Attorney General Bondi to take over the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, the supposedly nonpartisan group that regulates lawyers in the nation’s capital.
The campaign of Brad Bondi, 51, a partner at the District-based law firm Paul Hastings, has his detractors crying foul, citing his sister’s prominent role in the Trump Administration. The Bar Association handles investigations into ethics charges filed against lawyers in the District, including lawyers associated with Mr. Trump, according to report from Bloomberg Law.
Current and former bar officials and members indicated to the news outlet that, if elected, Mr. Bondi would not oversee any disciplinary proceedings. Additionally, any influence he might exert over such matters would be moderated by other bar leaders or the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Nevertheless, other DC attorneys – including Mr. Bondi’s opponent, employment law attorney Diane A. Seltzer – say they fear that with Trump allies in place, it could lead to confusion over whether to obey rulings from the Court of Appeals or orders handed down from the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
“I would never want to be president of a bar that could do that or that would do that,” Ms. Seltzer said to NBC News. “I wouldn’t want to be president of a bar where those lines could be blurred and we would say, ‘I am not going to follow what the Court of Appeals has decided or what the Office of Disciplinary Counsel has ordered.’”
Mr. Bondi says that he’s been an active member of the organization for 26 years and that he is looking to keep it politically neutral.
“The Bar has a non-partisan mission, which I intend to vigilantly protect against any push to politicize it,” he said in a statement to NBC, adding that he planned his campaign months before the federal elections.
“This isn’t about politics,” he said. “I’m running to help strengthen our profession and support members of the Bar no matter what their beliefs or backgrounds.”
While not in the public spotlight as much as his sister, Mr. Bondi – who once served as a top staffer at the Securities and Exchange Commission – was well-known within Washington’s legal circles long before his sister came to town. In recent years however, he has intersected professionally with people in her orbit, which include Elon Musk and business associates of Mr. Trump.
In 2018, he represented Tesla in a settlement with the SEC over posts on social media by Mr. Musk about taking the company private, according to the New York Times.
Just last year, his law firm represented the Florida-based Digital World Acquisition Corp, in merger talks with Mr. Trump’s media company, which operates the Truth Social platform. Financial disclosures obtained by the newspaper showed that after those negotiations, Mr. Bondi’s sister reported nearly $3 million in Truth Social shares.
He was also enlisted by a group of investors looking to purchase TikTok in January, right before Mr. Trump temporarily reversed President Biden’s ban on the Chinese-linked social media app.
Federal campaign finance records show Mr. Bondi has donated over $25,000 to political committees supporting Mr. Trump since 2020, according to the Times.
Mr. Trump’s transition team had even considered him to run the SEC before choosing Paul Atkins, a close friend of Mr. Bondi.
