Former DOJ Lawyer faces professional discipline for whistleblowing 

Eleven years after informing a reporter at the New York Times about possibly illegal spying by the NSA on American citizens--reporting that ultimately won the NY Times a Pulitzer--the whistleblower has been accused of ethical violations by the DC Office of Disciplinary Counsel. He faces two charges. First, he is accused of failing to report possibly illegal activity to superiors at DOJ. Second, he is accused of disclosing confidential information about his "client," DOJ. The charging papers are available here. Typically, state bars have been reticent to get involved in misconduct by DOJ lawyers, so this will be an interesting case for professional license defense lawyers to follow. The conduct complained of here was not prosecutorial misconduct--such as the withholding and manipulation of evidence in the prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens, which the DC Office of Disciplinary Counsel let DOJ handle internally. So it interesting that the same office is now, eleven years later, getting involved here. *** The North Carolina professional license defense lawyers at CHESHIRE PARKER handle all types of professional disciplinary matters. If you are facing an ethics violation or other professional grievance, contact us today.