Trump attorney who was key to election conspiracies retires from legal practice

L. Lin Wood, a Georgia attorney who was part of the legal team that attempted to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, has said he will retire from the practice of law.

Mr Wood sent a letter to top officials at the State Bar of Georgia on Tuesday asking that he be permitted to transfer to “Retired Status” effective immediately. Mr Wood writes that he understands that by taking retired status he would no longer be allowed to practise law in Georgia or any other state or jurisdiction and that he would not be allowed to apply for re-admission.

Mr Wood’s decision to end his legal career comes he deals with a range of legal headaches in the wake of his work for Mr Trump’s campaign following the 2020 election.

According to reporting by The Daily Beast, the Georgia Bar held a disciplinary trial for Mr Wood in May and was weighing whether to disbar him. Mr Wood is also reportedly facing a potential misconudct case in Michigan over his election work as well as a defamation lawsuit from a former political ally.

Given the timing of the request, it is not yet clear whether the Georgia state bar will allow Mr Wood to move to retirement status and prematurely end its disciplinary proceeding against him.

Mr Wood was one of a number of Trump attorneys sanctioned by a federal judge in Michigan two years over his role in filing a lawsuit that sought to have President Joe Biden’s victory in the state thrown out and the state’s electoral votes awarded to Mr Trump.

The judge in that case, US District Judge Linda Parker, agreed with Gov Gretchen Whitmer that the lawsuit had been filed for an “improper purpose” and wrote in her opinion that the attorneys’ conduct “warrants a referral for investigation and possible suspension or disbarment.”

Mr Wood’s legal efforts in the aftermath of the 2020 election were spectacularly unsuccessful — Mr Trump’s legal team did not succeed in reversing the result of a single state they took action in and were only successful in one of the more than 60 lawsuits they filed regarding the race.

Mr Wood is far from the only Trump election lawyer in professional trouble. John Eastman is facing potential disbarment in California, while Jeffrey Clark, who was serving as assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice, is facing disciplinary proceedings at the District of Columbia Bar.

Mr Trump himself remains under criminal investigation in Georgia for his alleged attempts to interfere in the election.