Arizona Secretary of State Republican candidate Mark Finchem listens to instructions prior to debating democratic challenger Adrian Fontes, Sept. 22, 2022, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
An attorney who represented a failed secretary of state candidate in Arizona who tried to overturn his loss in the 2022 election has been ordered to officially retire from the practice of law for at least one year.
Daniel McCauley, an Arizona lawyer with more than 30 years of experience, took up the case of Mark Finchem in 2022 after he lost to now-Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. Finchem, who lost by 120,000 votes, claimed to have been stymied by then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who still served as a top administrator over the Grand Canyon State’s elections before her own election to governor.
However, McCauley presented no evidence in support of those claims — and now, there is a price to pay.
“It is ordered that Daniel J. McCauley is suspended from the practice of law in Arizona for 30 days — effective 30 days from the date of this order — for his conduct in violation of the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct,” said a final judgment and order from the presiding disciplinary judge of the State Bar of Arizona, issued Monday. “It is further ordered that, upon reinstatement, [McCauley] shall immediately change his State Bar membership status to ‘retired’ and shall remain retired for a minimum of one year.”
The order notes that McCauley filed a “Verified Statement of Election Contest” on behalf of Finchem, despite not having the facts to back it up.
“Mr. McCauley admits that he lacked a sufficient factual or legal basis for several allegations advanced in those proceedings and further admits that some of his claims were false, inaccurate, frivolous, or based on speculation,” said a consent agreement that outlined the basis for the disciplinary measure.
The disciplinary judge acknowledged that McCauley said he was nearing the end of his career.
“Although the term of actual suspension is relatively brief, the Agreement requires Mr. McCauley to refrain from practicing law for at least one year thereafter, and he avows that he has no current intention of returning to the practice of law,” the statement says.
McCauley also agreed to pay the costs and expenses of the disciplinary proceedings.
At the time Finchem’s case was dismissed, McCauley hinted that he knew what was coming.
“I took this (case) because they needed somebody to do this,” McCauley said in December 2022, according to the Arizona Mirror. “I guess it does not matter if I get sanctioned here. I’m 75, semi-retired, and it will be two years or so before they get to it.”
When the judge overseeing Finchem’s case, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Julian, issued sanctions in March 2023, she recalled this comment from McCauley, and said it showed he had “some awareness that this case lacked merit” as “he expressed being less at risk of being disbarred as a result of the filing given his impending retirement.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
