Attorney Steven Donziger, who won a multibillion-dollar judgment against Chevron on behalf of Ecuadorian villagers, addresses his supporters as he arrives with his family for his criminal contempt trial at the federal courthouse of Manhattan in New York, U.S., May 10, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Steven Donziger, the Manhattan attorney who has spent decades in a legal battle with Chevron Corp over rainforest pollution in Ecuador, is fighting to keep his attorney’s license in Washington, DC, after being disbarred of the New York bar.

Last month, DC Bar attorneys asked Donziger why he shouldn’t also be barred from practicing in DC after his 2020 New York disbarment. In a brief Thursday, Donziger’s attorneys argued that “potentially significant violations of due process rights” during the New York disbarment “make it an inappropriate basis for imposing reciprocal discipline.”

The brief was filed as Donziger also challenges his expungement from New York in the United States Supreme Court. A New York appeals court found Donziger guilty of “gross” misconduct in securing a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron in an Ecuadorian court, which the oil giant later challenged in a US court. In 2014, a federal judge in New York blocked enforcement of the judgment in the United States, siding with Chevron’s claims that it was obtained through bribery, fraud and extortion.

Donziger’s attorneys argued in Thursday’s filing that he did not receive a fair disciplinary process in New York after a court arbitrator recommended lifting his suspension. They said a witness who testified about corruption in the original Chevron case later admitted to lying.

Lawyers have asked that Donziger’s case be dismissed or referred to the DC Board on Professional Responsibility to determine whether he received due process in the New York proceedings, before “a professional death sentence not be pronounced”.

Last year, another Manhattan judge found Donziger guilty of criminal contempt charges for defying court orders related to the Chevron litigation, including his refusal to hand over his computer and other electronic devices.

Donziger was sentenced to six months in prison on the charges, which were brought by private lawyers appointed by the court to serve as prosecutors after the Justice Department declined to pursue the case. He served his sentence last month, having been released from prison in December on a pandemic waiver to complete his sentence at home.

Asked about DC’s record, a Chevron spokesperson on Friday pointed to Donziger’s criminal contempt conviction as well as his previous disbarment. “He’s not someone who should be practicing law in the United States or any other country that respects the rule of law,” the spokesperson said.

Donziger is represented by Charles Nesson of Harvard Law School and Michael Frisch, a former DC disciplinary counsel and current ethics counselor at Georgetown University Law Center.

(This story has been updated to include a statement from Chevron.)

Read more:

The lawyer who hired Chevron in Ecuador is disbarred from the New York bar

Donziger asks SCOTUS to take up the disbarment case

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