NPR
Election season is under way in Washington and the candidates are not holding anything back.
The race to lead the nonprofit D.C. Bar Association is taking place at a precarious moment in national politics—and that’s reflected in the rhetoric on the campaign trail.
“I’ve been a member of the D.C. Bar for 30 years and this is the first time that the election has generated this kind of interest,” said Bob Spagnoletti, the chief executive officer of the legal group.
One of the two candidates running for bar president, which is largely an administrative role, is Brad Bondi, the younger brother of President Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The race comes as the Trump administration has punished big law firms because of their partners and clients, lobbed rhetorical attacks against judges, and fired career lawyers at federal agencies.
Spagnoletti said more than 30,000 people have already voted in the election. That’s more than triple the previous record set in 1990.
Some of that interest was on display recently at a reception to meet the candidates.
Diane Seltzer, the other candidate in the race, is an employment attorney who operates her own small firm. Seltzer told the crowd about the fear she’s hearing from lawyers across Washington.
“We’re no longer afraid of, ‘What if I’m not prepared’ or if I missed a case I should have known,” Seltzer said. “We’re literally afraid of terrible consequences just for doing our jobs.”
Seltzer said she’s listening to those people and making their concerns the center of her campaign.
“My priority is making sure that the rule of law is upheld, that we feel that we are safe to do our jobs and that we can go forward every day representing the clients we choose,” she said, to a round of applause from lawyers who attended the reception.
The bar president mostly plays an administrative role and has no say in attorney discipline.
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https://www.npr.org/2025/05/12/g-s1-65883/bar-association-bondi-election
