CAITLIN SIEVERS
Arizona M/irror
The State Bar of Arizona is able to move forward with cases against three attorneys for their actions in representing failed 2022 Arizona gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Senate hopeful Kari Lake.
An Arizona Supreme Court attorney disciplinary panel on Dec. 8 found probable cause to take formal action against Bryan Blehm, a Scottsdale divorce lawyer, and Kurt Olsen, an employment attorney from Washington, D.C., who represented Lake in her attempt to overturn the results of the election, which she lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by 17,000 votes. Both attorneys were the subject of complaints related to their arguments attempting to overturn the 2022 election.
Another Lake attorney, Andrew Parker, who, along with Olsen, represented Lake and former secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem in a 2022 lawsuit during which they challenged the use of ballot tabulating machines, was also the subject of a probable cause order.
The probable cause orders clear the way for the State Bar to file formal complaints against the trio, which would be overseen by a judge who handles attorney disciplinary matters.
The Arizona Supreme Court has already ordered Olsen and Blehm to pay $2,000 in sanctions for writing in an appeal that it was an “undisputed fact” that more than 35,000 ballots were illegally inserted into batches of legal ballots in Maricopa County when the November 2022 ballots were being sorted shortly after Election Day.
The court wrote that Lake provided no evidence of the claim and sanctioned Lake and her team for making “false factual statements to the Court.” Records provided by the attorneys to the State Bar show they have paid the fine.
