OLYMPIA, WA – A bar complaint that was filed against State Attorney General Nick Brown and dismissed in October has now been assigned to a review committee after the dismissal was disputed.
At a Jan. 20 press conference, The Center Square asked Brown if the bar complaint against him was still active.
“You’d have to ask the bar,” Brown said. “It’s a pretty laughable bar complaint from my perspective.”
The Center Square has now obtained documents showing that the bar complaint was assigned to the Review Committee of the Disciplinary Board, which consists of three members, two lawyers and a non-lawyer. The review board will then decide whether to uphold the dismissal, order further investigation or public hearing, or issue an admonition to the attorney in question.
While WSBA investigations are confidential and concern individuals solely as private attorneys, the Attorney General’s Office has communicated with the WSBA regarding the complaint using public emails, creating a public record of the investigation.
The complaint was initially assigned for investigation by WSBA Senior Disciplinary Counsel Henry Cruz, who dismissed it hours after The Center Square reached out about it.
When the dismissal is disputed, the complaint can either be dismissed, in which case there is no possibility of further action, or assigned to the review committee.
The Center Square reached out to the WSBA last month to request an interview to discuss the process regarding how it handles complaints filed against attorneys differently based on how the disciplinary counsel’s considers the merits of the allegations.
WSBA officials did not respond to the request.
The complaint against Brown was filed after The Center Square reported that he signed an amicus brief in support of private law firm Perkins Coie’s motion for a temporary restraining order against President Trump. Trump had issued an executive order that cancelled Perkins Coie’s contracts and revoked the law firm’s security clearance.
The Center Square later revealed that Perkins Coie had active contracts with the AGO at the time the amicus brief was signed but were not disclosed to the court, which the bar complaint against Brown argues was a conflict of interest. Additional emails obtained by The Center Square revealed the AGO attorneys collaborated with Perkins Coie on the amicus brief and provided legal advice on when and where to file its lawsuit due to how courts have different thresholds before granting a TRO.
Brown failed to respond to the WSBA when it requested a response from him to the allegations, including after he was threatened with an interim suspension of his license to practice law. According to internal AGO emails obtained by The Center Square, Brown’s Executive Assistant Angie Adams received the WSBA letter, but said she was out on vacation. Two responses were eventually sent to the WSBA by Solicitor General Noah Purcell.
In one of his response to the WSBA on Brown’s behalf, Purcell wrote that Adams “did not recognize the importance of the correspondence and the need to respond.”
