Bar Wars: A New Hope

The three most significant players in the operation of the District of Columbia Bar and the attorney discipline system are the Bar’s Chief Executive Officer, the Disciplinary Counsel and the Executive Attorney to the Board on Professional Responsibility.

All three of these positions have now been filled replacing long-tenured incumbents.

The final jewel of this triumvirate is now in place with today’s announcement

The D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility has appointed Hamilton P. “Phil” Fox III as the new disciplinary counsel. Fox will assume his duties on June 7…

A Yale Law School graduate, Fox has enjoyed a diverse legal career. He was a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., a federal prosecutor, a solo/small firm practitioner, and a partner in international law firms.

Fox has a long affiliation with the D.C. attorney discipline system. He served as a Hearing Committee Member (1986-1988), and later a member, vice chair, and chair of the Board on Professional Responsibility (1988-1996). Fox has also represented respondents in disciplinary proceedings.

Fox also has a long history of service to the courts and the Bar. He was a member and chair of the Committee on Admissions and Grievances, District of Columbia Circuit (1996-2000); a member, vice chair, and chair of the D.C. Bar Legal Ethics Committee (2003-2011); a member of the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee (2009-2011); and a member of the Committee on Unauthorized Practice of Law, D.C. Court of Appeals (2009-2011).

The Board chose Fox after a nationwide search conducted by legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, which garnered over 100 applicants with diverse expertise from around the country.

I am hopeful that new CEO Robert Spagnoletti, new Executive Attorney James Phalen and this fellow Fox signal a new era of more efficient attorney discipline and a Bar that listens to the membership in the broadest sense. (Mike Frisch)