Hunter Biden can't practice law in the nation's capital as of Tuesday, another consequence of his conviction in Delaware on multiple federal felonies.
Signed by D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby, the order cites "the indictment and jury verdict form filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware demonstrating that the respondent [Hunter Biden] was found guilty of three felony counts" appearing to be "serious crimes" as defined by the D.C. Bar rules.
As the rules state, it is "professional misconduct" for a lawyer to commit "a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects." More from the D.C. Bar's ethics guidelines:
Many kinds of illegal conduct reflect adversely on fitness to practice law, such as offenses involving fraud and the offense of willful failure to file an income tax return. However, some kinds of offenses carry no such implication. Traditionally, the distinction was drawn in terms of offenses involving “moral turpitude.” That concept can be construed to include offenses concerning some matters of personal morality, such as adultery and comparable offenses, that have no specific connection to fitness for the practice of law. Although a lawyer is personally answerable to the entire criminal law, a lawyer should be professionally answerable only for offenses that indicate lack of those characteristics relevant to law practice. Offenses involving violence, dishonesty, breach of trust, or serious interference with the administration of justice are in that category.
Those rules mean that post-conviction, Hunter is "suspended immediately from the practice of law in the District of Columbia pending resolution of this matter" and the "Board on Professional Responsibility is directed to institute a formal proceeding to determine the nature of the offense and whether it involves moral turpitude within the meaning of D.C. Code § 11-2503(a)."
According to the D.C. appeals court order, Hunter's "attention is directed to the requirements of D.C. Bar Rule XI, § 14 relating to suspended attorneys and D.C. Bar Rule XI, § 16(c), dealing with the timing of eligibility for reinstatement as related to compliance with D.C. Bar Rule XI § 14, including filing of the required affidavit."
The Disciplinary Counsel is also ordered to "inform the court if the matter is resolved without the necessity of further court action."
JUST IN: Hunter Biden's law license has been suspended in D.C. pic.twitter.com/651MMPtMjP
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 25, 2024
Hunter Biden's second trial for his alleged federal tax crimes is slated to begin on September 5 in Los Angeles. The first son is again being represented by Abbe Lowell and hoping to beat the second set of charges against him that deal with his failure to pay some $1.4 million in taxes over a period of four years.
It remains to be seen whether Hunter and his legal team can end their losing streak that began when his sweetheart plea deal fell apart leading to the gun trial in Delaware in which Hunter was convicted on all counts and the tax case being tried in California this fall.