I have to confess that I find this an object lesson. Rudy Giuliani has been suspended from the practice of law in New York by the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, for his dishonesty:
"we conclude that there is uncontroverted evidence that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020. These false statements were made to improperly bolster respondent’s narrative that due to widespread voter fraud, victory in the 2020 United States presidential election was stolen from his client. We conclude that respondent’s conduct immediately threatens the public interest and warrants interim suspension from the practice of law, pending further proceedings before the Attorney Grievance Committee."
Attorney Grievance Committee v. Rudolph W. Giuliani, Case No. 2021-00506 (June 25, 2021).
In my 2017 article "Am I a 'Licensed Liar'? An Exploration into the Ethic of Honesty in Lawyering . . . and a Reply of 'No!' to the Stranger in the La Fiesta Lounge," 7 St. Mary's J. on Malpr. and Legal Ethics 32, I walked backward through U.S. history to examine the specific requirement of honesty applicable to lawyers, and I found that the requirement has been a consistent mainstay of legal ethics since the earliest days of our Republic.
My article is here: https://commons.stmarytx.edu/lmej/vol7/iss1/2/
Legal ethics are not foolproof and are not self-executing. But in a sufficient number of cases the machinery of the bar organization works, most of the time, to apply the honesty ethic to challenged conduct and to grant and enforce penalties against offenders such as Giuliani.
