This is a list of disbarments affecting notable lawyers in the United States.
NameJurisdiction(s)Date disbarredDate reinstatedReason/DetailsSpiro T. AgnewMaryland—No contest plea to bribery and tax evasion.James AlexanderNew York1737 Retaliatory measure for defending John Peter Zenger from sedition.F. Lee BaileyFlorida2001—Misconduct while defending Claude Duboc. Filed for reinstatement in Massachusetts in 2005, but has not yet been reinstated. Applied for reinstatement in Maine in 2013, and approved by a judge of the state's Supreme Judicial Court, but decision appealed by the state Board of Bar Examiners, requiring a rehearing by the entire court. Case heard by the full court on January 14, 2014; the court announced on April 10 that it had voted 4–2 to deny Bailey admission.Massachusetts—Reciprocal with Florida.Paul BergrinNew Jersey—Suspended in 2009, and disbarred in 2016, following his conviction of numerous felonies, including conspiracy to murder a witness.New York—Suspended in 2009, and disbarred in 2010, following his guilty plea to two counts of conspiracy to promote prostitution.Rod BlagojevichIllinois — Former Governor of Illinois impeached and removed from office for corruption, which includes racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion, conspiracy, attempted extortion, bribery, and making false statements to federal agents.Eric Louis BoetzelNew YorkFormer Assistant District Attorney. Convicted and sentenced to two years in prison for mail fraud.Frank J. BrascoNew York 1973 — Received five years in prison upon conviction of federal bribery and conspiracy charges.Lubasch, Arnold H. (July 20, 1974) Brasco Guilty of Bribery Conspiracy The New York TimesTommy BurnettTennessee 1990 2003 Convicted of multiple felonies as a result of the Operation Rocky Top political corruption investigation. Thomas J. CapanoDelaware—Convicted of murder. Laurence CanterTennessee1997—In part for unethical practices in marketing legal service (i.e. through spamming).Mark CiavarellaPennsylvania—Former president judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas along with Michael Conahan convicted for the Kids for Cash scandal and currently serving 28 years in federal prison. He was originally disbarred in February 2009 along with Conahan before losing his law license for good ten years later.No. 26 DB 2012 pacourts.us Office Of Disciplinary Counsel v. Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr.Harry E. ClaiborneNevada1986—Former United States District Judge for the District of Nevada impeached from office for tax evasion.Daniel H. CoakleyMassachusetts—Found guilty of deceit, malpractice, and gross misconduct.Michael CohenNew York—Pled guilty to lying to Congress and violating campaign finance law.Roy CohnNew York—Unethical and unprofessional conduct of misappropriation of clients' funds, lying on a bar application and pressuring a client to amend his will in Cohn's favor.Robert Frederick CollinsLouisiana—Served five years in prison for bribery.Excerpt from the Orders of the United States Supreme CourtMichael ConahanPennsylvania—Former president judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas along with Mark Ciavarella convicted for the Kids for Cash scandal. Sentenced to 17.5 years in prison, Conahan was transferred in 2020 to home confinement, with an anticipated release date of 2026, under a provision of the CARES Act that authorized such transfers as a response to the COVID19 pandemic.William J. CorcoranMassachusetts1921—Found guilty of conspiring with Middlesex County District Attorney Nathan A. Tufts to use the threat of criminal indictment to extort money from people.Edward DeSaulnierMassachusetts—Accepting bribes from a criminal defendantMarc Stuart DreierNew York—Violation of New York's insider trading statute and General Business LawEd FaganNew York—Failed to pay court fines and fees in Holocaust CaseWalder, Noeleen G. (December 12, 2008) Lawyer Disbarred for Failing to Pay Sanctions, Fees in Holocaust Case New York Law JournalNew Jersey—Convicted for stealing money from Holocaust survivors.Koloff, Abbott. NJ: Disbar ex-Parsippany lawyer for stealing from Holocaust survivors. Thomas FinneranMassachusetts2010—Plead guilty to criminal obstruction of justice.Joe GanimConnecticut—Mayor of Bridgeport resigned from office upon his conviction for one count each of racketeering, extortion, racketeering conspiracy, and bribery; two counts of bribery conspiracy; eight counts of mail fraud, and two counts of filing a false tax return.Editorial: Court Right to Deny Law License to Ganim: State Supreme Court squashes former mayor's effort to get license back, Hartford Courant (April 9, 2014).Paul von Zielbauer, Bridgeport Mayor Convicted On 16 Charges of Corruption, New York Times (March 20, 2003). He was released in 2010 after serving seven years in prison and worked for his family's law firm as a legal assistant before getting his old job back as mayor in 2015.Rudy GiulianiNew York—Made false allegations about mass voter fraud and his participation in the January 6, 2021, Attack on the United States Capitol in an effort to subvert the 2020 Presidential Election.District of Columbia—Reciprocal with New York State.David E. HarrisonMassachusetts2006—Found to have interfered with the Commission on Judicial Conduct's inquiry of his conduct during a Gloucester, Massachusetts zoning board hearing.Stanley HiltonCalifornia2012—MisconductCalifornia State Bar Court: Decision and recommendationAlger HissNew York19521975Convicted of perjuryAbraham J. IssermanNew Jersey1952June 30, 1961Contempt of court during Foley Square trial, and failure to disclose conviction for statutory rapeAndrew JenkinsNew York1991—Sentenced to one year and one day in jail for money launderingState Senator Held in Smuggling Scheme by Robert D. McFadden, in The New York Times on August 2, 1990State Senator Indicted in The New York Times on September 30, 1987Queens Lawmaker Guilty in Bank Plot by James Barron, in The New York Times on May 8, 1990"Matter Andrew J. Jenkins" at FindACaseE. Stewart Jones, Jr.New York—admitted misappropriating client funds, mingling, and improperly bookkeeping.Kathleen KanePennsylvania—Resigned from the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General upon her conviction for perjury, obstruction of justice and related charges for illegal activities while holding office. Her law license was suspended in September 2015 before being revoked four years later.Middle District of Pennsylvania—Reciprocal with Pennsylvania.Menis KetchumWest Virginia—Pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud while serving as a Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.WV Supreme Court formally annuls Ketchum's law licenseKwame KilpatrickMichigan2008—Former Mayor of Detroit pleaded No contest to one count of assaulting a police officer and guilty to two felony obstruction of justice charges.(January 21, 2009) Kilpatrick to remain disbarred The Detroit News Granted a pardon by then-President Donald Trump less than 12 hours before his term ended.Egil KroghWashington19751980Convicted of conspiracy to violate civil rights of Daniel EllsbergCharles KushnerNew Jersey,In re Kushner, 870 A.2d 248, 183 N.J. 130 (2005). New York,In the Matter of Kushner, 18 A.D.3d 953, 793 N.Y.S.2d 781 (2005) (per curiam). and Pennsylvania2005—Former real estate developer and lawyer pleaded guilty to 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering.Smothers, Ronald (March 5, 2005). "Democratic Donor Receives Two-Year Prison Sentence". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2011. Served 14 months at Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery in AlabamaSommer, Allison Kaplan (March 1, 2016). "Meet the Kushners: The Feuding Real Estate Dynasty That Links Donald Trump and Chris Christie". Haaretz. Retrieved November 19, 2016.Lizzie Widdicombe, [Ivanka and Jared's Power Play: How the patrician couple came to have an outsized influence on a populist Presidential campaign], New Yorker (August 22, 2016). before being sent to a halfway house in Newark, New Jersey, to complete his sentenceNew York Magazine: "The Legacy – his son Jared, the 28-year-old Observer owner, has to carry the ambition for the both of them" By Gabriel Sherman July 12, 2009 and was released August 25, 2006. Received a federal pardon by then-President Donald Trump (who is his son, Jared's father-in-law) December 23, 2020. Lewis LibbyDistrict of Columbia—Convicted of four of five felony counts of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements to a grand jury and federal investigators, in United States v. Libby, pertaining to the Plame affair and related CIA leak grand jury investigation.Pennsylvania—Reciprocal with District of Columbia.Richard P. LiebowitzNew York—G. Gordon LiddyNew York1973—Mastermind behind the Watergate burglary and refused to testify at Nixon's trial, resulting in a sentence of 52 months out of his 20 years in prison.Time (magazine)Ed ManganoNew York—Former County Executive of Nassau County convicted of bribery and corruption along with his wife Linda and former Oyster Bay Town supervisor John Venditto. With he and his wife having been sentenced to 20 years in prison, he did not seek reelection for a third term.Erik Hawkins, Mangano will not seek re-election: County executive misses deadline to run as independent, Long Island Herald (August 24, 2017).Marvin MandelMarylandJuly 6, 1989Mail fraud and racketeering.C. Vernon MasonNew York—Price gouging, theft, and abandoning clients.John N. MitchellNew York—PerjuryRichard "Alex" MurdaughSouth Carolina—Murder of his wife and son.Michael D. MurphyTexas and Louisiana1984, 1985—Mike NifongNorth Carolina2007—Prosecutorial misconduct while prosecuting the Duke lacrosse case.Richard NixonNew York—Obstruction of justice related to Watergate.Joseph C. PelletierMassachusetts—Removed from the office of Suffolk County, Massachusetts District Attorney for using his office to aid in blackmail and extortion.Fred PhelpsKansas—Conduct during his lawsuit against court reporter Carolene Brady.State v. Phelps, 226 Kan. 371, 598 P.2d 180 (Kan. 1979) (Kansas Supreme Court opinion)United States federal courts1989 (ceased practicing)—Already excluded from Kansas state courts by his disbarment, Phelps agreed to cease practicing in federal courts as part of the settlement for a 1985 disciplinary complaint by nine federal judges.Thomas PorteousLouisiana—Former United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana who voluntarily surrendered his state law license after being impeached by the United States House of Representatives and removed from office by the United States Senate on December 8, 2010.Michael E. ReiburnNew York1935—Disbarred for unethical practices, later for the same case sentenced to five years in prison for fraud.Stewart RhodesMontana—Leader of the Oath Keepers disbarred by the Montana Supreme Court for conduct violating the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct, after refusing to respond to two bar grievances filed against him in the federal district court of Arizona. Several years after disbarment, he was also a participant of the January 6 United States Capitol attack, with which he was convicted of November 2022 and sentenced to 18 years in prison..Paul J. SheehyMassachusetts1975—Convicted of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements in Lowell Bank and Trust Co.'s books.Mitch SkandalakisGeorgia2005—Convicted of making a false statement to an FBI investigator.Joel SteinbergNew York1987—First Degree ManslaughterLynne StewartNew York2005—Convicted in Federal Court of aiding terrorists and defrauding the U.S. government.Pat SwindallGeorgia1996—Sentenced to one year in prison and paid a fine of $30,450 for perjury related to a money laundering in his involvement in a drug trafficking operation.Long, Kim. "The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals & Dirty Politics, (2008). .Andrew ThomasArizona—Former Maricopa County attorney launched unethical attacks on political enemies, filed