Kate Buehler at Law360:

The chairman of a D.C. ethics committee deciding whether Rudy Giuliani violated legal ethics rules by filing a lawsuit aimed at overturning the 2020 presidential election results in Pennsylvania said Thursday he was struggling to determine the point at which zealous advocacy could become frivolous litigation.

Committee Chairman Robert C. Bernius, a Nixon Peabody LLP senior counsel, admitted he was having a hard time walking that thin line as a four-day virtual hearing on Giuliani’s role in helping former President Donald Trump challenge election results came to an end Thursday. The committee is expected to issue a ruling next week.

Giuliani engaged local counsel and a team of investigators in Pennsylvania and elsewhere before launching the federal lawsuit challenging the election results, which, Bernius said, probably represents more diligence than the ordinary lawyer would have undertaken before filing a complaint.

“I’m trying to distinguish this case from any other case where a lawyer brings a claim, and it’s tossed under a motion to dismiss,” he said. “How do you identify one as improper and one as perfectly appropriate under the zealous representation doctrine?”

Buehler has been following the hearings closely, including pieces “DC Panel Questions Giuliani’s Thinking Behind Pa. Voter Suit” and “Giuliani Wrangled ‘Chaotic’ Trump Campaign HQ, Staffers Say.” The Washington Post also has some coverage.