The Legal Beat

Lin Wood Faces Sanctions And Disbarment, But Law School Just Can’t Quit Him (Or His Donation)
Posted on Monday February 22, 2021

(Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

Lin Wood has had a rough go of it since pinning his hopes on election fraud conspiracies that never panned out. He’s been tossed from Twitter, kicked off the Carter Page case by an irate judge, faces sanctions in Michigan, there’s an open inquiry into his disbarment, and doxxed the disciplinary committee to his “army of patriots.” The Covington Catholic kid even cut ties with him. Sometimes it seems that poor Lin can’t catch a break.

But Mercer University still has his back!

After pressure mounted to remove Wood’s name from the school’s moot courtroom and return the million-dollar gift he’s committed to the school, he crashed a law school Zoom call to push back against students, the sort of totally normal fight accomplished lawyers throw themselves into all the time.

“Law students, faculty, and alumni are outraged by the university’s inaction,” a tipster reports. Law school leadership seems to recognize that Wood’s behavior over the last several months more than warrants severing all ties to the tarnished litigator. Unfortunately, it’s not up to the law school, but Mercer University president Bill Underwood and the school’s trustees. And Underwood is laying low and hoping this all blows over and he can just pocket Wood’s money, proving once again that the line between “savvy” and “moral cowardice” is… actually pretty clear to everyone who isn’t trying to justify themselves in the mirror.

Universities need money, of course, and school leadership has to worry that it might chill the philanthropic community to know that their gifts might be rejected down the line. On the other hand, maybe we can just stop the slippery slope at “facing disbarment after advocating for the execution of the vice president of the United States.” That seems like an entirely reasonable yardstick.

It’s like watching Homer and Bart chase after the runaway pig roast. Mercer University leadership opens every new Lin Wood story and says, “it’s just a little sanction… it’s still good, it’s still good!” “It’s just a little allegation of voter fraud… it’s still good, it’s still good!”

To be clear, Underwood and the trustees shouldn’t need anything else to pull the plug on this. But the flipside of potentially scaring off donors by enforcing the barest of minimum standards is watching the Lin Wood anchor drag down the whole school. A Mercer donor should be very concerned right now that the school refuses to acknowledge you as anything but a cartoon money bag with legs. It’s a turnoff when an institution of higher learning is so thirsty for a mere million dollars that it’ll try to hide under the covers while a donor connects the school’s brand to cheering on insurrection.

On the other hand, the university slapped Walter F. George’s name on the law school until only a couple years back so maybe that’s their chosen fundraising crowd.

Earlier: Pressure Mounting On Law School To Rename Lin Wood Classroom
Lin Wood Shows Up On Mercer Law School Call To Defend Himself, Doesn’t Go Great
You Oughtta Have Your Head Examined, GA Bar Tells Lin Wood. Or Else.
Citing Lin Wood’s ‘Toxic Stew Of Mendacity,’ Delaware Judge Tosses Him Off Carter Page Suit
Trump Lawyers Say They Can’t Be Sanctioned Because They Didn’t Sign Anything (P.S. They Totally Signed Things)
Lin Wood Would Have To Be Crazy To Vote Illegally. Oh, Wait.
Lin Wood Asks ‘Army Of Patriots’ To Investigate State Bar Disciplinary Committee

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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