A conservative legal gadfly faces the music – POLITICO

To hear conservative gadfly and attorney Larry Klayman tell it, the end of his legal career haranguing the Washington political establishment could be nigh.

For two contentious days this week, the Judicial Watch founder battled bar ethics charges of dishonesty, deceit and misrepresentation over his aggressive drive to join the defense team for Cliven Bundy in a criminal case stemming from the Nevada rancher s armed standoff with federal authorities in 2014.

D.C. Bar officials contend the famously litigious Klayman misrepresented facts, filed meritless legal pleadings and brought frivolous demands for recusal and an ethics complaint against a judge who rejected the hard-charging lawyer s bid to join the defense team at Bundy s request.

Klayman insists he s guilty of nothing more than zealous advocacy in the episode. But looming over this week s hearing is a more epic fight between ethics officials, who say he s made a specialty out of using the legal system to harass his enemies, and Klayman, who contends he s the victim of a politically motivated crusade to end his decades as a legal pit bull for conservative causes and figures.

During the 1990s, as he headed Judicial Watch, Klayman became reviled by many in the Clinton administration for forcing aides into bizarre, almost postmodern depositions that often led the witnesses to incur tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills. His antics eventually inspired the writers of The West Wing to create a toxic, scandal-chasing character, Harry Klaypool of Freedom Watch. Klayman was thrilled and after a rancorous breakup with other leaders at Judicial Watch adopted the fictional name from the TV show as the name of his new organization.

via www.politico.com