· It concluded that the president — but not the attorney general — could fire such an official. In a memorandum opinion, John M. Harmon, the head of the office at the time, cited the law that says presidents may fire U.S. attorneys. The law’s broad wording makes sense, he wrote, only if it is applied not just to presidentially appointed U.S. attorneys “but also is to be read as …
Those instances when presidents have exercised the authority to fire U.S. attorneys fall on a broad spectrum, from the right and appropriate to the …
Berman, AG William Barr tells us, is "stepping down" (having done "an excellent job"), to be replaced by Jay Clayton of the SEC. No reasons have been given for …
· In most cases, clients have the ability to fire their attorneys at will. But you should not fire your attorney before giving careful thought to the timing and your reasons for doing so. Consider other possible solutions and the possible ramifications.
Technically, no sitting President has ever fired an Attorney General they nominated to office with Senate approval. But President Trump clearly has the power to remove Sessions, based on the Constitution and past legal decisions. And most importantly, he can ask for his resignation.
A proceeding to suspend or remove a district attorney is commenced by filing with the clerk of superior court of the county where the district attorney resides a sworn affidavit charging the district attorney with one or more grounds for removal.
United States Attorneys are appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, and serve at the direction of the Attorney General.
four yearsU.S. Attorneys are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and they serve terms of four years or at the President's discretion.
In practice, district attorneys, who prosecute the bulk of criminal cases in the United States, answer to no one. The state attorney general is the highest law enforcement officer in state government and often has the power to review complaints about unethical and illegal conduct on the part of district attorneys.
The governor may remove any elective sheriff, county clerk, district attorney or register within the term for which he or she shall have been elected; but before so doing the governor shall give to such officer a copy of the charges against him or her and an opportunity of being heard in his or her defense.
The PresidentThe President appoints a United States Attorney to each of the 94 federal districts (Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are separate districts but share a United States Attorney).
U.S. attorneys are appointed by the President of the United States for a term of four years, with appointments subject to confirmation by the Senate. A U.S. attorney continues in office, beyond the appointed term, until a successor is appointed and qualified.
The PresidentThe President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice. (Added Pub. L.
Depending upon the state's law, DAs may be appointed by the chief executive of the jurisdiction or elected by local voters. Most criminal matters in the United States are handled in state judicial systems, but a comparable office for the United States Federal government is the United States Attorney.
As the chief officer of the Department of Justice, the attorney general enforces federal laws, provides legal counsel in federal cases, interprets the laws that govern executive departments, heads federal jails and penal institutions, and examines alleged violations of federal laws.
three statutory responsibilitiesThe United States Attorneys have three statutory responsibilities under Title 28, Section 547 of the United States Code: the prosecution of criminal cases brought by the Federal Government; the prosecution and defense of civil cases in which the United States is a party; and.
At the other end of that spectrum, consider a former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, David Iglesias. In 2005, a Republican senator from that state, Pete Domenici, wanted Iglesias to initiate prosecutions against certain Democrats. When Iglesias declined because the cases lacked merit, Domenici voiced his unhappiness with the decision. What followed had long-lasting impact at the Department of Justice: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired Iglesias and a number of other U.S. attorneys, I among them, for what many found to be politically motivated reasons.
By issuing a grand jury subpoena, a U.S. attorney may destroy a hard-won reputation. In some instances, a U.S. attorney may use the power of the government to intentionally and methodically take another person's life.
This broad authority makes the selection of a U.S. attorney an important process that must be done with much care. Appointment to the position requires full Senate confirmation. Background checks are done not by government contractors but by special agents of the FBI, and they are most thorough: Given the threat of terrorism, and that terrorism cases arise throughout the country, each U.S. attorney must qualify to receive the highest of security clearances.
That makes the U.S. attorney more than a mere gatekeeper. By issuing a grand jury subpoena, a U.S. attorney may destroy a hard-won reputation. In some instances, a U.S. attorney may use the power of the government to intentionally and methodically take another person's life.
As difficult as it is to find and hire a qualified U.S. attorney, it can seem deceptively easy to fire one. That is because each serves at the pleasure of the president. Those instances when presidents have exercised the authority to fire U.S. attorneys fall on a broad spectrum, from the right and appropriate to the unjust and perhaps unlawful.
Your lawyer has a responsibility to act in an ethical manner. Beyond that responsibility, they’ve actually taken an oath to uphold certain ethics.
Reason #1: Your lawyer isn’t returning your calls. Lack of communication is a big problem for some law firm clients. Yes, legal practices are very busy. They have lots of clients — not just you. However, before a lawyer signs on to take your case, they need to know if the firm has the capacity to handle it. There’s no excuse for not returning phone ...
For example, if your lawyer knows when your accident happened and when the statute of limitations runs out, yet still fails to file a claim in the allotted time period, you might no longer be able to file the claim or have legal recourse.
Before you hire an attorney, you’ll sign a contract that sets forth the lawyer’s fees. Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basis, which means they get paid a percentage of the damages you receive. However, they’re also going to charge you for additional expenses that come up while the case is in process.
A lawyer is ethically bound to share any settlement offer with you. If the other party makes an offer, even if the lawyer knows it’s too low, they need to tell you that an offer was made.
Your lawyer likely knows the legal system in the community where you live, and they might have valid reasons why they think one approach is better than another, but ultimately it’s still up to you to make a decision — it’s your life, after all.
However, the lawyer should still take your wishes into consideration. The lawyer could be pressuring you to accept a settlement that you think is too low to cover your costs after an accident. Or, maybe you think taking a case to a judge and jury would be a good move but your lawyer is pushing you to settle.
Today brings word that President Trump, having summarily disposed of a number of pesky Inspectors General who had the temerity to do their jobs, has now had enough of his own appointment to the position of US Attorney for the SDNY, Geoffrey Berman.
So Berman now says: I don't serve at the president's pleasure, like the ordinary US Attorney, because the president didn't appoint me - the judges did. The appointment lasts until "the vacancy is filled." That can't happen until a presidential nominee to the position has been confirmed by the Senate.
It's not enough for the AG to appoint a temporary successor (Barr has purported to name Jay Clayton of the SEC to the position) and to say: "There—your appointment has ended because 'the vacancy is filled'. Clean out your desk and begone.".
The judiciary's integrity is not affected, and the method of appointment does not violate the doctrine of separated powers…. Here, the power to appoint is tempered in ways that ensure the appointee's independence.
The attorney is unprofessional. For example, the attorney wastes time in meetings, does not appear to be prepared for court, seems very disorganized, or in the worst-case scenario, seems to be mishandling your funds or documents. The attorney does not communicate with you.
If any fees were paid in advance and the work hasn't been done, ask for a refund of the fees. Also, ask for an itemized bill listing all pending fees and expenses. If yours is a contingency case, your new attorney will pay your old attorney from any money that you ultimately recover.
When you're ready to sever the relationship with your old lawyer, send a certified or registered letter that clearly states you are terminating the relationship, and that the lawyer is to cease working on any pending matters.
If you are a party to litigation, confirm that your new lawyer will notify the court as to your change in representation. When you meet with new lawyers, don’t bad-mouth your old one. Remember, the legal community can be small, and you may be speaking about someone’s close friend or former colleague.
Steps to Take to End Your Lawyer's Representation of Your Case. Once you've definitely decided to change attorneys, there are still a few things you should do before notifying him or her of the change. Review the written agreement or contract you might have with the attorney, sometimes called a retainer agreement.
If you feel that your lawyer simply doesn’t understand your goals and aspirations, you are not obligated to continue to the relationship . If, upon reflection, you think you have a valid beef with your attorney, first talk to him or her about the problem.
This might be due to the lawyer being new to the practice, venturing outside his or her primary area of expertise , or just not being as sharp as you'd like.
If your agreement doesn't outline a process for terminating the relationship, send a certified or registered letter to the attorney's place of business, stating that you are terminating the professional relationship and that he or she should immediately cease working on any and all matters related to your case.
If you still aren't satisfied after bringing up your concerns, you can fire the attorney.
If your attorney has been uncommunicative, or hasn't been spending an adequate amount of time on your case, this gives him or her the chance to rise to the occasion. In an ideal situation you wouldn't have had to pressure your attorney to improve, but this outcome is still ultimately less disruptive than having to fire your attorney.
If it turns out that your attorney doesn't seem to adequately understand your case, and his or her decisions have been detrimental instead of helpful, you should fire your attorney. Hiring an attorney to get a second opinion usually isn't that expensive, since it only requires a few hours of the second attorney's time.
If it doesn't, you'll need to pull the plug. You really dislike your attorney's personality. Firing your attorney over a personality conflict isn't ideal, so it's best to do what you can to make it work. You don't necessarily have to like your attorney - especially if he or she is doing a fine job on your case.
You're concerned that your attorney isn't doing a good job. It might be difficult to tell whether your attorney is doing competent work on your case. Before firing your attorney, it's worth investigating a bit to see if the work they're doing seems legitimate. If it doesn't, you'll need to pull the plug.
If you have reason to believe your attorney has stolen from you or been otherwise grossly incompetent, you need to fire your attorney.
When an attorney fires a client, it’s no surprise that some former clients will try to take action against them, claiming negligence or something related to save face. If a lawyer has a valid reason to withdraw from a case, as listed above, they should feel confident their decision will be supported, but there is still the need to be insured against financial obligations related to litigation.
When an attorney is pressed to aid in committing activities which may be deemed criminal or unethical, they can most certainly withdraw on grounds of criminal activity by the client. There are also personality conflicts that can be taken into account.
When attorneys and clients are unable to work cohesively and in an amicable way, a lawyer can withdraw from the client as the chances of a successful case outcome are diminished.
An attorney may submit a motion to withdraw from a case if they have additional valid reasons beyond payment and communication. In the event of conflicting case strategies, when an attorney and client cannot reach an agreement regarding a case strategy, it is usually the best option for an attorney to withdraw.
Lawyers are also allowed to withdraw from a relationship with a client under moments when the withdrawal is not required. An attorney has the right to terminate the attorney-client relationship in some states upon notice to his client and approval by a court.
Lawyers, however, do not necessarily have this same right. A lawyer’s liability to end an attorney-client relationship is related to the rules of professional conduct. Sometimes, a relationship in this fashion just doesn’t work out for the best and a lawyer has to cut ties with a paying client, even if it means costing them a potential financial ...
Clients of attorneys have an absolute right to end their working relationship with their attorney (s), whether or not they have cause. From negligence to preference to being unsatisfied with the pace an attorney is working, for example, clients can discharge their representation when they want.
A subsequent report by the Justice Department Inspector General in October 2008 found that the process used to fire the first seven attorneys and two others dismissed around the same time was "arbitrary", "fundamentally flawed" and "raised doubts about the integrity of Department prosecution decisions".
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel stated that some of the emails that had involved official correspondence relating to the firing of attorneys may have been lost because they were conducted on Republican party accounts and not stored properly. "Some official e-mails have potentially been lost and that is a mistake the White House is aggressively working to correct." said Stanzel, a White House spokesman. Stonzel said that they could not rule out the possibility that some of the lost emails dealt with the firing of U.S. attorneys. For example, J. Scott Jennings, an aide to Karl Rove communicated with Justice Department officials "concerning the appointment of Tim Griffin, a former Rove aide, as U.S. attorney in Little Rock, according to e-mails released in March, 2007. For that exchange, Jennings, although working at the White House, used an e-mail account registered to the Republican National Committee, where Griffin had worked as a political opposition researcher."
Attorney General Gonzales, in a confidential memorandum dated March 1, 2006, delegated authority to senior DOJ staff Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson to hire and dismiss political appointees and some civil service positions.
The change in the law undermined the confirmation authority of the Senate and gave the Attorney General greater appointment powers than the President, since the President's U.S. Attorney appointees are required to be confirmed by the Senate and those of the Attorney General did not require confirmation.
Attorneys by deleting two provisions: (a) the 120-day maximum term for the Attorney General's interim appointees, and (b) the subsequent interim appointment authority of Federal District Courts. With the revision, an interim appointee can potentially serve indefinitely (though still removable by the President), if the President declines to nominate a U.S. Attorney for a vacancy, or the Senate either fails to act on a Presidential nomination, or rejects a nominee that is different than the interim appointee.
The President of the United States has the authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys, with the consent of the United States Senate, and the President may remove U.S. Attorneys from office. In the event of a vacancy, the United States Attorney General is authorized to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney. Before March 9, 2006, such interim appointments expired after 120 days, if a Presidential appointment had not been approved by the Senate. Vacancies that persisted beyond 120 days were filled through interim appointments made by the Federal District Court for the district of the vacant office.
He also stood by his decision to dismiss the attorneys, saying "I stand by the decision and I think it was the right decision". Gonzales admitted that "incomplete information was communicated or may have been communicated to Congress" by Justice Department officials, and said that "I never saw documents. We never had a discussion about where things stood."
To answer the question directly: Only the Attorney General or Acting Attorney General can personally fire the special counsel. However, Trump can either ignore the laws or fire those who will not do as he wants.
Clearly, Rosenstein is the one person who could fire the special counsel, Robert Mueller. However, Trump could attempt to indirectly fire Mueller. Nixon ordered his Attorney General to fire the special prosecutor, and Trump could theoretically give similar orders to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein . . . which Rosenstein likely would not follow. Therefore, Trump has another option: firing Rosenstein and getting another Deputy Attorney General who would fire Mueller. If Trump fires Rosenstein, then orders could move down the chain of command in the Justice Department - established via an executive order of Trump's.
Again because the President can be Impeached for anything, forcing the AG to appoint a special counsel is a brilliant move since he can discover matters that can be embarrassing, he can also charge people (not the President) with lying to a special counsel. All this will tie up the attention of the Executive Branch making it easier for it to lose political points.
That being said, it would be politically impossible for him to fire this special counsel under these specific circumstances because Congress (a seperate entity and equal in power) can impeach the president for anything that has political traction.
1 Questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee confirm that Rosenstein is the Acting Attorney General for the Russian investigation after the recusal by Sessions.
The Special Counsel may be disciplined or removed from office only by the personal action of the Attorney General. The Attorney General may remove a Special Counsel for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies. The Attorney General shall inform the Special Counsel in writing of the specific reason for his or her removal.
Theorectically, the President can be Impeached for anything at all as long as there is political capital to make it successful. Including acts that were done prior to election. Again, it is political, not logical which is why the extensive campaign of ridicule and vitriol can work towards removal