In any other case, Trump lawyer Alina Habba's antics would be grounds for malpractice, ethics lawyer says

Attorney Alina Habba is joined by Former President Donald Trump as she speaks during a news conference, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

• Trump’s lawyer was repeatedly bench-slapped for ignoring basic courtroom rules and legal procedure.
• Legal experts say that in any other case, Habba’s antics would be grounds for a malpractice suit.
• But Trump is unlikely to sue her — likey because Habba is doing exactly what he wants.

Donald Trump’s lawyer made headlines last week after she violated basic courtroom rules and proper legal procedure in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial.

Judge Lewis Kaplan bench-slapped Habba at least 14 times in a single day, dinging her for ignoring his previous rulings, not knowing how to properly cross-examine a witness, and ignoring the basic rules for introducing evidence into a trial.

Alina Habba’s behavior would have opened her up to potential malpractice liability in any other case, said one ethics lawyer.

“The two consequences of Habba’s ignorance of courtroom evidence rules are, first, personal humiliation and embarrassment, and second, the risk that evidence that would have been admissible and helpful to Trump will not get admitted,” Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics professor at the NYU School of Law, told Business Insider.

“In theory, that could in turn expose her to malpractice liability, assuming there is such evidence, and assuming it could be proved that it would have made a difference,” Gillers said.

But Trump is unlikely to sue Habba for malpractice, he said.

First, to establish malpractice, Trump would have to prove two things: that favorable evidence was not admitted because of his lawyer’s ignorance of the rules of evidence, and that if the evidence had been admitted, it could have changed the jury’s verdict.

“Even if Trump could prove the first part of this, I doubt he could prove the second part,” Gillers said.

Then there’s the main reason the former — and possibly future — president wouldn’t sue Habba for malpractice: she’s doing exactly what he wants her to do.

“Trump wants a lawyer who will fight in the court of public opinion as much as the courtroom,” Neama Rahmani, the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Business Insider.

Trump has a long history of choosing his defense lawyers based on how well he thinks they’ll perform on TV and in the public eye.

Experts said it’s clear Habba’s main credential, in Trump’s eyes, is her willingness to parrot his attacks on his perceived foes, not her legal prowess.

Kaplan’s exchanges with Habba “seem to focus less on genuinely debatable matters of advanced tactics, and more on the judge’s frustration with things that would be unlikely from more experienced lawyers,” Kris Franklin, a professor at New York Law School, told Business Insider.

Trump hired Habba in 2021 and she’s since represented him in the E. Jean Carroll defamation cases, the New York attorney general’s fraud trial, and a lawsuit that Trump filed against The New York Times and his niece, Mary, over his leaked taxes.

“Habba is speaking to voters, not just the judge and jury” in the Carroll defamation trial, Rahmani said. And Trump’s argument is also “a loser on the merits.”

“He has already been found to have sexually assaulted Carroll, so it’s just a question of damages,” Rahmani said. “There aren’t a lot of good trial lawyers who want to jump on that grenade.”

Insider reached out to a representative for Habba for comment on Wednesday but didn’t immediately hear back.