DC Lawyers Lose Their Cool; Goodbye Akin; Hello Scott Balber
ALM Media
Updated
Washington Wrap is a weekly roundup of Big Law hires and other Washington, D.C., legal industry news. Read thepreviousedition here. Send tips and lateral moves to Katelyn Polantz atkpolantz@alm.com.
D.C. s humidity index this week went from sweltering to spontaneous combustion. So did developments in the legal industry, especially related to the Trump-Russia investigations. Let s sweat through the most notable moments:
If you haven t read the full transcript of President Donald Trump s interview with The New York Times, it is worth your time. Among many things, Trump expressed displeasure that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. Sessions said he will continue to serve as attorney general as long as that is appropriate. Morale appears to be low in the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building.
Trump, and later his personal attorney John Dowd, attempted to draw parameters around Special Counsel Robert Mueller s investigation, saying it should not touch on the president s finances and business deals. Here s Dowd s statement to Bloomberg News on Thursday: Those transactions are in my view well beyond the mandate of the special counsel; are unrelated to the election of 2016 or any alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and most importantly, are well beyond any statute of limitation imposed by the United States code.
For the record, Mueller s brief from the Justice Department allows him to investigate any matters that arose or may arise related to potential Russian collusion. The word any indicates quite the broad platform for the investigation, especially since Mueller has all the same abilities as any U.S. attorney and more. Bloomberg s report says financial questions are squarely in the frame of the investigation now.
Trump s legal team is preparing to hit back with other tactics, by attempting to exploit the idea that Mueller has conflicts of interest, or use the president s pardoning power, according to The Washington Post.
As one lawyer who s watching the investigation told me last week, It s about to get really aggressive, and we shouldn t be shocked when legal strategies turns toward calling Mueller a lying stinking dog. As another lawyer put, we re starting to see who has swamp skills.
The Senate Judiciary Committee directly asked FBI director nominee Christopher Wray about investigating the Trumps on foreign corruption. In a reminder that Mueller s is not the only federal team with investigative powers, Wray said he could and would if merited.
The probe is expanding to companies, putting Deutsche Bank in need of lawyers. The bank will soon be receiving subpoenas because of its banking for the Trump family, according to Bloomberg News. The bank is using Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld lawyers Leslie Kiernan and Steve Ross for its response to congressional inquiries regarding its Trump ties. It s not yet clear who may represent the bank on the Justice Department aspect or in a related New York state inquiry.
The reactions from prominent attorneys to the president s words this week are more astonishing by the minute. Former White House counsel Bob Bauer critiqued the president on the Lawfare blog Thursday, writing that Trump s lawyers just fail time and again in controlling their client s public statements. Twitter is another prime venue for outrage. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. last night re-upped his message of support to career staff at the Justice Department and FBI, while former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger is suggesting a D.C.-lawyer protest march through Washington if Mueller is fired.
Friday morning brought news of a reshuffling on the president s legal and public relations teams. Trump s personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz is either out, according to CBS News, or will see his role recede, according to CNN, following a week of brutal press attention. Dowd is now the point person. Mark Corallo, who served as the spokesman for the legal team led by Kasowitz, appears to have resigned, as has White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
Jared Kushner will testify in a closed Senate intelligence committee hearing on Monday. Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort and others are scheduled to appear publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Several questions still remain, such as: What other companies may be dragged into the investigations? Which other individuals will face massive legal bills, and how will they pay for them? How will law firms feel the effects of representing individuals and clients in these matters? And of course, how does this steaming, swirling vortex of legal and political strategy, inquiry and news end?
I will be out of the office (and the Washington sauna) next week, so the Washington Wrap will be on hiatus until August.
The week s lateral moves:
David Turetsky, co-head of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld s cybersecurity practice for three years, left the firm. He expressed disillusionment with D.C. after Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election, so he and his family are moving to Albany. He ll be a visiting assistant professor for emergency preparedness at the State University of New York there. Turetsky is a former Federal Communications Commission official and Dewey & LeBoeuf partner.
Ladd Wiley also jumped from Akin Gump. He will found a health industry policy and regulatory practice at OFW Law, which formerly was Olsson Frank Weeda Terman & Matz.
Laura Jehl moved to Baker & Hostetler from Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, where she was a practice co-head, as a Washington-based partner in the privacy and data protection team. Jehl previously was chief litigation counsel at America Online Inc. in the late 1990s and early 2000, then was general counsel at Resolution Health Inc., a subsidiary of the health insurer Anthem Inc.
Baker & Hostetler also picked up Matthew Thurlow, an energy regulation partner, in Washington from Latham & Watkins, where he was counsel. With earlier career experience at the Department of Justice, he ll land in the firm s litigation group.
Todd Halpern rejoined Venable as a partner in the D.C.-based FDA practice. Halpern moves from an in-house regulatory law role at Pfizer Inc. He was of counsel at Venable from 2004 to 2008.
David Horowitz joins Hogan Lovells after a 25-year career in in government, at the FDA and ultimately as deputy general counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services. He ll be a partner in Washington.
Michael Pryor moved from Cooley, where he was special counsel, to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he becomes shareholder in the litigation and government relations departments. Pryor s practice focuses on telecommunications.
The House of Representatives independent Office of Congressional Ethics picked up an associate from McGuireWoods recently. Jeffrey Brown will act as investigative counsel for the group.
Williams & Connolly is likely sending a partner to the administration. C.J. Mahoney was nominated to be Deputy U.S. Trade Representative.
Note a new address coming for Hogan Lovells Northern Virginia office. The firm will relocate to two floors in Boro Tower in Tysons, Virginia, in June 2019. The office is currently in McLean. Practices in the 50-lawyer office includes practices in aerospace and defense, automotive, healthcare, hospitality, telecom and technology. The move will allow for more mergers and acquisitions, private equity, IP and litigation work out of the office, a statement said.
In other D.C.-area industry news:
Michael Flynn, Trump s former national security adviser who finds himself at the heart of several Russia-related questions, plans to set up a legal defense fund. NPR then examined other ways the lawyered-up people in the Trump orbit may pay their legal bills.
Scott Balber, a New York-based partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, emerged this week as the latest private practice lawyer engaged by the Russia investigation. He represents the eighth person at the now-infamous Trump campaign meeting about dirt on Hillary Clinton s campaign, along with a few other Russian nationals connected to others at that meeting. The Litigation Daily s Jenna Greene remembered Balber for a spectacle during his time at Cooley, when he defended Donald Trump after the comedian Bill Maher joked he was the son of an orangutan.
The New York Times had an exclusive interview with Walter Shaub, the outgoing top federal ethics official, after he resigned from the Trump administration. Shaub also outlined for the Times his recommendations to make the federal government more transparent and more ethical.
If you re curious how well Jones Day pays its partners, look no further than DOJ Civil Rights Division nominee Eric Dreiband s federal financial disclosure. Here s a second financial disclosure this week from Trump administration nominee Janet Dhillon, who if confirmed will move from Burlington Stores Inc. to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
My colleague Miriam Rozen checked in on the U.S. Attorney vacancy in the Southern District of New York.
Get ready to spot names in the Mar-A-Lago visitor logs, which will be released thanks to ethics watchdog CREW.
Former U.S. House Speaker and Dickstein Shapiro lobbying Dennis Hastert was released from prison after doing 13 months.
Here s a question, posed by The Washington Post: Is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce losing its grip on Washington, after becoming consumed with inner turmoil?
To coincide with O.J. Simpson s release from prison on parole this week, Town & Country Magazine did a deep dive into the career of former Simpson lawyer F. Lee Bailey. Bailey spoke with the magazine, which describes his voice as a single malt baritone worn raspy by decades of dominating courtrooms and conversations.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg will not play herself in her upcoming biopic. But this actress will.
It s time to round up the various alternative careers of well-mustached Hogan Lovells partner Ty Cobb, as bestowed upon him by late night comedian Stephen Colbert. In another world, Ty Cobb could be: the man hiring the Three Stooges to move a piano; a saltwater taffy mascot; the lollipop guild strikebreaker; or--my personal favorite--a drinker of homemade root beer.
Another track to queue up on your folk/indie playlist: The Trump Jr. I Love It emails set to a dulcet melody.
Speaking of folk music, I ll be on the Rhode Island coast next week for the summer s best music festival. But that pales in comparison to the summer travel plans of the Supreme Court justices. They re visiting Malta, New Zealand and Austria. Bon Voyage!
