TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT PERMANENTLY DISBARS MIDDLE TENNESSEE ATTORNEY

The Tennessee Supreme Court has permanently disbarred Williamson County attorney Connie Reguli. The Court found she committed multiple ethical violations since 2014.

Ms. Reguli’s misconduct included an orchestrated effort to harass and intimidate Williamson County Juvenile Court Judge Sharon Guffee. After Ms. Reguli made false and inflammatory public allegations about her, Judge Guffee filed a complaint with Tennessee’s ethics board for lawyers, the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility.

In response, Ms. Reguli publicly revealed personal information related to Judge Guffee, a privacy violation known as doxing, and encouraged online followers to contact the judge.  Ms. Reguli  also directed a website dedicated to aggregating hostile posts about the judge. The campaign of intimidation caused Judge Guffee and her Juvenile Court staff to fear for their safety.

In another incident, Ms. Reguli learned that a court had ruled her client’s child was in danger and placed the child in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services. After she told her client about the order, they both saw an Amber Alert for the child. To avoid the police, Ms. Reguli gave her client a burner phone and hid both the client and the child in her own home

After police found them, Ms. Reguli posted Facebook videos falsely claiming that neither she nor her client knew about the court order. She told people to ignore Amber Alerts and spread false warnings that the government was “coming for your kids” and would target families, neighborhoods, and churches.

After a trial, a hearing panel recommended that Ms. Reguli be disbarred based on the evidence.  She appealed to the Williamson County Circuit Court, which also recommended disbarment. She then appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court said her actions were meant to intimidate judges and “directly poison the well of justice.” The Court noted that lawyers are supposed to help people understand the legal system, but Ms. Reguli used her position to deceive. It called her conduct “a grave dishonor as a lawyer” and concluded that nothing short of disbarment was acceptable

To read the Court’s opinion in Reguli v. Board of Professional Responsibility, authored by Justice Holly Kirby, go to the opinions section of TNCourts.gov.