Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and the State Bar of Arizona on Friday reached an agreement to settle multiple ethics complaints.
The Arizona Board of Regents and Secretary of State’s office claimed Brnovich acted unethically when representing the two agencies.
“This is a victory for the rule of law and a rebuke for anyone attempting to weaponize the system for regulating lawyers for their own political purposes,” said Attorney General Brnovich about the agreement. “No one working for our office should have been subjected to these bar complaints, which put their reputations and livelihoods in jeopardy merely for doing their jobs as public servants.”
While serving as the agencies’ attorney in certain legal matters, the attorney general took separate legal action against them. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs detailed that Brnovich has received confidential attorney-client communications before taking on the other cases.
The Arizona Bar and Brnovich entered into a “diversion agreement.” According to a report from the Arizona Capitol Times, the agreement is “intended as an alternative to disciplinary sanction” for minor conduct violations.
“Today, the State Bar of Arizona recognized that the attorney general’s unprofessional conduct required corrective action by entering into a diversion agreement with the attorney general. The purpose of the bar’s diversion program ‘is to protect the public by improving the professional competency of attorneys through educational, remedial and rehabilitative programs so that attorneys modify practices, procedures or other conduct that does not comply with the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct.’ Contrary to the attorney general’s assertion, the bar’s decision is not a vindication of the attorney general’s conduct,” said ABOR Chair Lyndel Manson.
Brnovich has denied the claims and contended the two agencies “sought to use the state bar to try to silence the attorney general and to advance their own political agendas.”
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Mark Brnovich” by Mark Brnovich.
