After The Center Square reported earlier this year that the AGO had an active contract with Perkins Coie that the agency failed to disclose in its amicus brief to the court supporting the law firm’s legal battle with President Donald Trump, an ethics complaint was filed against Brown

TJ Martinell
The Center Square Washington

Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown was threatened with an interim suspension of his license to practice law for failing to respond to allegations made in response to an exclusive story by The Center Square about the AGO’s amicus brief filed in support of Perkins Coie.

Brown finally responded to the allegations via Solicitor General Noah Purcell almost a month after the deadline and the day after The Center Square reached out to the Washington State Bar Association for comment on the investigation.

The WSBA handles inquiries made into ethical complaints leveled against licensed attorneys, which includes Brown. After The Center Square reported earlier this year that the AGO had an active contract with Perkins Coie that the agency failed to disclose in its amicus brief to the court supporting the law firm’s legal battle with President Donald Trump, an ethics complaint was filed against Brown.

In a May 13 letter to the grievant, the SBA included Brown and wrote to Brown that “although we have reached no conclusions on the merits of this grievance, we are asking for your preliminary written response. If you do not respond to this request within thirty (30) days from the date of this letter, we can take additional action under ELC 5.3(h) to compel your response.”

However, in a follow up letter to Brown, WSBA said that he had not responded to the best of their knowledge by June 13, which was the deadline. The letter gave him a new deadline of July 16, threatening that “if we do not receive your response within the ten-day period, we can subpoena you for a deposition. If we must serve a subpoena, you will be liable for the costs of the deposition, including service of process, and attorney fees of $500. You should be aware that failing to respond is, in itself, grounds for discipline and may subject you to interim suspension under ELC 7.2(a)(3).”

According to emails obtained by The Center Square, Brown still failed to respond by that given deadline, although on July 22 the grievant was told that the WSBA did “expect to receive one.”

However, emails obtained by The Center Square revealed that Brown sent his preliminary response to the Washington State Bar Association on Aug. 14, the day after The Center Square reached out to the WSBA for comment on the ethics complaint, although the WSBA did not respond.

In the response, Purcell wrote that “Washington’s filing of the Perkins amicus brief does not even arguably present a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPCs),” writing that the “allegations to the contrary are baseless. The AGO has no interest in preserving Perkins’s ability to contract with the federal government.”

Purcell, who helped draft the amicus in support of Perkins Coie, is a former attorney from the firm who told Perkins Coie attorneys via email, “I’ve always considered it a badge of honor to be a Perkins alum, and even more so now.”

However, Purcell did not sign the amicus brief. The amicus brief was signed by Brown along with Deputy Solicitors General Emma Grunberg, Kelly A. Paradis and Cristina Sepe.

Although the response was filed on behalf of Brown and “the Attorney General’s Office,” the grievance was only sent to Brown as an attorney. According to the AGO’s website, “the office is not authorized to advise or represent private citizens on personal legal matters.”

The ethics complaint against Brown was filed after an exclusive story published by The Center Square revealed that Perkins Coie had an active contract with the AGO regarding a police use of force database project that has been fraught with ethical, legal and practical challenges. A follow up investigation by The Center Square found that Perkins Coie had 10 active contracts with the AGO at the time the amicus brief was filed, none of which were mentioned in the amicus brief.

The Center Square later discovered that the AGO actively colluded with Perkins Coie not only on the draft amicus brief, but offered legal advice on when and where to file their lawsuit.

Those new communications were added to the complaint against Brown. On June 4, the WSBA sent Brown a letter demanding he respond to these allegations as well.

That same day, The Center Square reached out to the AGO Communications Office for comment on these new communications and was told “the premise that there was something ethically questionable about this is an absurd fiction. It’s about as meritorious as the claim that the Earth is flat. There is no rule, law, precedent or any other standard that would indicate this is unethical or even unusual.”

Since the amicus brief has been filed, the AGO Public Record’s Office redacted internal email communications sought by The Center Square between AGO attorneys regarding the amicus brief under an exemption code that applies to anticipated or planned litigation. The Center Square appealed against the redactions, but was denied by AGO Deputy Attorney General Christina Beusch.

A former U.S. Attorney General for Western Washington, Brown was elected attorney general in the November election, defeating Pasco Mayor Pete Serrano, who was recently appointed the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. 

This report was first published by The Center Square Washington.