Abstract
Until now there has been relatively little consideration given to disciplinary agencies’ sanctioning of lawyers who commit or are convicted of crimes, so called “lawyer-criminals.” This is likely because most assume that these offenders make up a tiny percentage of disciplinary cases. It also may explain why jurisdictions continue to employ disparate approaches regarding what types of criminal conduct warrant professional intervention, the appropriate sanctions to impose on lawyer-criminals, and whether lawyers convicted of certain offenses should be automatically excluded from practice.
This Article makes three primary contributions to the discourse on reforming professional lawyer regulation to protect the public from the risks posed by lawyer-criminals and to preserve the integrity of the profession. First, it comprehensively describes how jurisdictions currently discipline lawyers who violate the laws they took an oath to uphold. Second, to close a critical gap in understanding the prevalence of lawyer-criminals in our ranks and how they are treated by disciplinary authorities, it presents the results of an original empirical study of the sanctioning practices of six jurisdictions over the last decade. Third, the Article provides recommendations for developing a universal approach to disciplining lawyer-criminals that recognizes the severity of the misconduct committed and the detrimental impact of it remaining unchecked.
Recommended Citation
Jon J. Lee, Sanctioning Lawyer-Criminals, 82 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1757 (2026).Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr/vol82/iss5/6
Included in
Criminal Law Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, Legal Profession Commons