Lin Wood, a pro-Trump lawyer who worked to challenge the 2020 election results, retired from practicing law with a view to avoid his potential disbarment in Georgia.
That state’s bar “has agreed to drop the disciplinary cases against me in return for my agreement to take the status of RETIRED,” Wood said Tuesday in a post on Telegram, a social media platform he has used after he was permanently banned from Twitter.
Wood had earlier posted a screenshot of a purported letter he sent to the State Bar of Georgia, requesting that he be allowed to “transfer to Retired Status effective immediately.”
“I understand that this request is unqualified, irrevocable and everlasting,” Wood wrote within the letter, dated Tuesday. “I further understand and acknowledge that if granted Retired Status I’m prohibited from practicing law on this State and in every other state or jurisdiction and that I could not apply for readmission.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Wood’s status on the Georgia bar’s online directory was updated to “retired,” a change from “energetic member in good standing.”
Officials with the State Bar of Georgia filed a notice later Wednesday that they’re dismissing the disciplinary complaints against Wood.
“By permitting Respondent to transfer to Retired Status and thereby prohibiting Respondent from practicing law on this state or every other state or jurisdiction, the Office of General Counsel believes that it has achieved the goals of disciplinary motion, including protecting the general public and the integrity of the judicial system and the legal occupation,” those officials wrote in a court filing shared with CNBC by a spokeswoman for the state bar.
Wood didn’t reply to CNBC’s request for added comment.
Wood said on Telegram that his retirement from the law was not done “in the way I might have preferred. But God is sovereign over every thing.”
Wood was once a outstanding defamation lawyer whose clients included Richard Jewell and the parents of JonBenet Ramsey, in addition to more moderen figures similar to Kyle Rittenhouse and Nicholas Sandmann.
He gained notoriety for spreading election conspiracies and mounting a failed bid to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 win in Georgia.
The Georgia State Bar launched disciplinary proceedings against Wood in February 2021. It suggested in a 1,677-page memo that the lawyer can have violated state rules of conduct and raised questions on his mental fitness.
In 2021, Wood filed a grievance in federal court in Atlanta accusing state bar officials of violating his rights by asking him to undergo a mental health evaluation or else put his law license in jeopardy. He also asked the judge in that case to recuse himself because he had presided over Wood’s lawsuit difficult the 2020 election.
The judge dismissed Wood’s case, and a federal appeals court upheld that call.
In May, Wood sat for 2 days of contentious disciplinary hearings in Georgia Supreme Court with the state bar. Transcripts of those proceedings, posted by Wood’s “FightBack Foundation,” show Wood and his attorney steadily grappling with the presiding special master, Thomas Cauthorn. At one point, Wood accused Cauthorn of “blasphemy” for saying it was improper to inform a witness, “God bless you.”
“The witness is here to reply questions under oath, to not be blessed by you, Mr. Wood,” Cauthorn said. Wood has repeatedly criticized the special master on Telegram, where he boasts lots of of hundreds of followers.
Before announcing his retirement, Wood was embroiled in multiple other legal matters.
His former partners have sued him in state court in Georgia over an alleged breach of a settlement agreement. That lawsuit, which is ongoing, accuses Wood of “erratic, abusive, and unprofessional behavior.” Wood was fined $5,000 in June for repeatedly violating an order barring him from disparaging his former colleagues.
In May, Michigan officials called for punishment for Wood and other lawyers related to an effort to decertify that state’s 2020 election results for Biden.
It was not immediately clear how those matters could be affected by Wood’s decision to stop practicing law.