Giuliani’s 'bad judgment' is a 'headache' for defense lawyers: legal expert

Former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani losing a defamation case against two Georgia poll workers and being ordered to pay $148 million is a byproduct of reckless behavior his attorney was unable to rein in, according to a defense lawyer.

In a Saturday column for MSNBC, personal injury and criminal defense attorney Danny Cevallos wrote that the man formerly regarded as "America's mayor" routinely "engages in self-sabotage" that makes him a difficult client to defend.

"There’s a misperception, held by a lot of judges and prosecutors, that attorneys have complete control over their clients. They don’t. This isn’t particularly surprising — most criminal and civil defendants are defendants because of their bad judgment," Cevallos wrote. "Hiring an attorney after they were indicted or sued won’t magically improve their decision-making."

Cevallos laid out how Giuliani — himself a celebrated former US attorney for the Southern District of New York before getting elected mayor of New York City — consistently created problems for his own attorney, Joe Sibley. When Giuliani failed to appear for a pre-trial hearing in December, Sibley explained that his client's absence was due to him misinterpreting the summons order. US District judge Beryl Howell noted that Giuliani's no-show was "not a good start to the trial."

"Defense lawyers often have to fall on the sword for their clients. Sometimes they do it for noble reasons," he added. "Sometimes they do it because getting a client fined or jailed for contempt is just as much of a headache for the lawyer as it is for the client."

Giuliani also frequently undermined his own defense counsel's attempts to do damage control in the wake of his incendiary remarks. Cevallos wrote about how Giuliani often made disparaging statements about Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss — the two Georgia election he workers he defamed — both before and after court appearances. Following one hearing, the former Trump attorney told a gaggle of reporters that he didn't regret his comments and continued to baselessly accuse the two women of "changing votes." When Judge Howell asked Sibley to account for his client's comments, the lawyer admitted that he was "not sure how it's reconcilable."

"I can’t control everything he does," Sibley said at the time.

READ MORE: Judge: Giuliani doubling down on election worker attacks 'could support another defamation claim'