Judge suspends Kari Lake attorney for lying to Supreme Court (2024)

PHOENIX — A judge ordered Friday that Kari Lake’s attorney be suspended from practicing law for 60 days after lying to the Arizona Supreme Court about the record in her case.

The state’s presiding disciplinary judge, Margaret Downie, said Bryan Blehm told the justices the record “indisputably’’ showed at least 35,563 ballots illegally injected into the system in the 2022 gubernatorial race. The high court ruled that was a lie and slapped Blehm and co-counsel Kurt Olsen with a $2,000 fine.

The Supreme Court’s decision didn’t end the matter, as the State Bar of Arizona sought to have Blehm suspended from practicing law for six months and one day.

That would have required him to seek reinstatement before being able to ply his trade again in Arizona. It would then have been up to Blehm to demonstrate “by clear and convincing evidence’’ that he had been rehabilitated, complied with all applicable discipline orders and rules, and showed “fitness to practice and competence.’’

In her decision Friday, Downie said there was plenty of evidence to support such a stiff punishment, ranging from multiple other offenses initially alleged, to the fact Blehm is an experienced lawyer, to his refusal to acknowledge the wrongful nature of his conduct.

“The State Bar’s concern that respondent will engage in similar misconduct in the future is not unreasonable and finds some support on the record,’’ she wrote.

But Downie said she and other members of the court’s disciplinary hearing panel concluded there are countervailing factors, including that this is Blehm’s first disciplinary case.

“And the misrepresentations at issue were so blatantly obvious that there was little chance the Arizona Supreme Court would be misled by them,’’ she said.

Downie said Blehm did not show up for a hearing by the disciplinary panel when it was considering the appropriate punishment. Still, she said, the panel agreed to give him the benefit of the doubt — for now.

“The hearing panel concludes that a long-term suspension is excessive for a first offense that, while serious, involved relatively isolated and easily detectable misstatements,’’ Downie wrote. “Should respondent engage in future ethical misconduct, though, a harsher sanction may well be warranted.’’

The panel’s decision, which takes effect in 30 days, is final unless Blehm asks the Supreme Court to intercede.

He did not immediately respond to multiple messages Friday seeking comment. There also was no comment from Lake, the Republican who continues trying to overturn the 2022 governor’s race she lost by 17,117 votes to Democrat Kari Lake.

The lie to the Supreme Court was only part of the initial complaint against Blehm. Downie and the disciplinary panel agreed to dismiss a separate count accusing him of failing to provide “reasonable diligence’’ in representing his client.

In his initial response to the State Bar complaint, Blehm admitted he may not have been up to the job of representing Lake in her attempts to overturn the election.

He wrote that Lake’s legal bid “should have been handled by a much larger law firm with resources.’’ But Blehm said many attorneys are loathe to take on the legal system — as he said he has done with issues related to elections — for fear of running punished by the courts.

Blehm said Lake “was left represented by a small sole proprietor with few to no resources.’’

Still pending is a parallel complaint against Olsen.

There has not yet been a hearing by the disciplinary committee against him. But since Olsen is not licensed in Arizona — he was allowed to practice here under a rule that allows out-of-state lawyers to appear on a case-by-case basis — the most severe penalty that could be imposed is a formal reprimand.