The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Launches Financial Markets Crisis Group

As lawmakers and Bush administration officials head into the second day of negotiations on the $700 billion rescue proposal, one local firm has assembled its own team of experts to advise clients on what all of this means.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has assembled a team of about 35 partners from across the firm to analyze information and provide the firm’s clients, many of whom are in the financial sector, information about what impact the financial crisis and the in-the-works rescue plan could have.

This financial markets crisis group will be coordinated by Michael Bopp, a partner in the firm’s Washington office. Bopp says the idea for the group came up last week as the government started to emphasize the seriousness of the crisis.

“As soon as the magnitude of the government’s response to the crisis became apparent, we realized that to better serve our clients we needed to pull together a deep bench of lawyers who could cover the gamut of issues our clients may have,” Bopp says.

The group, which was officially launched this week, brings together lawyers from a number of practice areas to bring a wide array of perspectives to the current economic situation.

Bopp described the group’s goal as that of “intelligence gathering” and “tailoring that information to each individual client’s needs.”

“It’s a big job to stay on top of these developments. There are a lot of people in Washington following pieces of what’s going on, but it takes a multidisciplinary law firm like Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to stay on top of all the components of the rescue,” Bopp says.

Two Government Officials Join D.C. Lobby Shops

Jaime Harrison, a top aide to the House majority whip and the former executive director of the House Democratic Caucus, will join the Podesta Group as a principal in November.

The Podesta Group chairman Tony Podesta says that Harrison's experience and knowledge of the legislative process will help navigate congressional obstacles when working with the firm's clients.

“Jaime is smart and politically savvy and has had a stellar career I Congress,” Podesta said in a statement.

Harrison was the first African-American and youngest person ever to be the executive director of the House Democratic Caucus. At the Podesta Group, he will join Andrew Kauders, who served as executive director of the caucus immediately before Harrison. Harrison is now the director of floor operations and counsel for House Majority Whip James Clyburn.

In another move from government to lobbying, Stewart Harris, a former congressional affairs specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has joined the Carmen Group as a senior associate.

Harris is joining the Carmen Group’s water resources and environment practice and will manage federal strategy for the lobby shop’s water clients. “Stew’s combination of substantive policy experience and marine science expertise will contribute immediately to client issues and practice growth,” said Mia O’Connell, the Carmen Group’s executive managing director, in a statement.

The Morning Wrap

Humpty Dumpty: After a hopeful day of negotiations on the Hill and a tentative agreement on a plan to end the financial crisis, talks imploded Thursday. By day’s end, Treasury secretary Henry Paulson was kneeling before the House speaker, appealing for her support, The New York Times reports. Meanwhile, federal regulators seized Washington Mutual Inc. and struck a deal to sell the bulk of its operations to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., The Wall Street Journal reports.

Near Death: The Recorder has this piece on the demise of Heller Ehrman, the 118-year-old San Francisco law firm. In a firmwide "all hands" videoconference yesterday, Chairman Matthew Larrabee said the partnership had concluded that dissolution was unavoidable.

Speedy Trial: The trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) began yesterday. The Washington Post has this story on opening statements, and columnist Dana Millbank describes the scene here.

Executive Compensation: Executives at companies expecting to participate in the bailout plan should read the fine print on any bill passed by Congress, says Venable legislative partner John O'Neill, a former tax and benefits counsel to the Senate Finance Committee, in this Q & A with The American Lawyer.

Judges Share Career Strategies with D.C. Students

Perry Mason is responsible for launching the legal careers of at least two of the bench's luminaries, students at Howard University Law School heard today.

Judge Ann Claire Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia both revealed their childhood devotion to television's greatest defense attorney. "He made it look so easy," said Williams. "He would just pressure one of the guys on the stand into confessing, or better yet, someone in the audience would jump up and cry, 'I did it!'"

Williams and Lamberth joined Judge Wiley Daniel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to share their insights on forging a career path to the bench. It was one of the nine "Robes in the Schools" sessions held at law schools in Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. The sessions kicked off the eighth biennial conference of the non-profit Just the Beginning Foundation, which works to advance the legal careers of young people from ethnic backgrounds under-represented in the profession.

This year's conference theme is "Reaching Back, Lifting Up," and all of the judges stressed the role that mentors had played in their own careers. They also agreed that making connections is essential for those setting their sights on the judiciary. "At the end of the day, these are political appointments, and you've got to get your name circulated in the communities in which you live," said Daniel.

Reflecting on the hardest parts of the job, Williams said criminal sentencing was often "agonizing," particularly where mandatory minimums were required. Daniel spoke about the heavy workload of managing the docket. "I need to master it. I need to keep it moving, and I need to spend enough time on each case so that it has my personal imprint. . . . While there is some glamour and prestige, don't aim for the bench unless you're prepared to do the hard work."

The first African-American judge appointed to the 7th Circuit, Williams said she battled both racism and sexism during her career. She was inspired by the experience of her father, a psychology graduate who drove buses for 20 years because he could not get a job in his chosen field. "Somebody in your family has sacrificed a lot for you to be here," she told the students. "We have an obligation to all of them to hang tough."

-- By Joanna McCarthy

Heller Ehrman to Dissolve Friday

San Francisco-based Heller Ehrman will dissolve Friday, reports Legal Times' sibling publication, The Recorder.

Firm chairman Matt Larrabee made the announcement at 1 p.m. PST this afternoon, according to a Heller staff member.

More details are available here.

Equal Rights Center Settles With Manassas on Discrimination Suit

The City of Manassas, Va. has reached a settlement with the Equal Rights Center that would bring to an end a year-long lawsuit in which the ERC accused the city of discrimination against Hispanic residents. The settlement, reached this week, is awaiting the approval of Judge T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

In its complaint, the ERC alleged that the city targeted Hispanics at a higher rate than other ethnic groups while enforcing zoning codes meant to curb overcrowding. The city set up a hotline where residents could call in to complain about possible zoning violations.

David “Max” Williamson, a partner at Beveridge and Diamond who represented the ERC, says that more than 90 percent of the calls to the hotline involved large Hispanic families living under one roof. “The hotline allowed any crackpot who had a problem with a Hispanic family to call up and have the opportunity to see uniformed inspectors go into their house and inspect it,” Williamson says.

In addition to a $775,000 cash award to cover damages and attorney fees, the settlement agreement includes new protections for residents under the city’s inspection practices. Among the new protections are that the city will be required to hire a city housing manager and advocate who will implement and oversee many of the safeguards in the new procedures, provide an avenue of redress for residents who believe they have been treated unfairly by the city, and serve as a resource for housing-related information for all city residents. Certain city employees will be required to attend fair housing training.

Jesse Rudy, an associate in McGuireWoods’ Mclean office who represented Manassas, was out on paternity leave and could not be reached for comment.

The city’s school board, which was also sued for turning over confidential student information to city inspectors, will be required to pay $150,000 of the total cash award.

Patrick Lacy, a partner in Reed Smith’s Richmond office who represented the school board, says that the allegations against his client stem from a “low-level employee who is no longer with the school system.”

“The school board absolutely did not do anything wrong. We didn’t even know about the allegations until the lawsuit was filed,” Lacy says. “We’re taking steps to make sure that folks who deal with student information are aware of federal and state law so we don’t have any inadvertent problems in the future.”

Lacy says he considers the settlement fair to all parties involved.

“We didn’t get everything we wanted, and they didn’t get everything they wanted,” Lacy says. “We had already expended a great deal of time and effort in the preliminary matters, and we could expect to expend more in the discovery process. We decided to resolve the matter at this juncture so the system could get back to its central mission of educating children. We didn’t consider the settlement amount to be onerous or far-reaching.”

Financial Crisis Creates Lobbying Activity

The nation’s financial crisis is spurring activity on the lobbying front, with some companies signing up for more K Street help and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac letting some lobbyists go.

Fannie and Freddie, which were effectively taken over by the federal government earlier this month and told to stop lobbying, have officially terminated at least two lobbying contracts so far, disclosure records show. Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock terminated its relationship with Fannie on Sept. 22, after receiving $50,000 from Fannie this quarter. Arnold & Porter’s Dwight Fettig cut his ties to Freddie on Aug. 21, about two weeks before the government bailout. He was an in-house lobbyist at Freddie until March. When he joined Arnold & Porter in April, he brought Freddie with him as a client. Fettig says he ended the relationship because of a conflict with another Arnold & Porter client, and not because of the financial turmoil. Arnold & Porter received $30,000 from Freddie this quarter.

Meanwhile, other companies are calling in reinforcements. Lobbyists from The Livingston Group and its affiliates, John Duncan and Associates and the Crosby Group, filed registrations for MERSCORP this month. According to the company’s Web site, MERSCORP offers an electronic system that registers mortgage loans and “was created by the mortgage banking industry to streamline the mortgage process.” John Duncan, the lobbyist taking the lead on the team representing MERSCORP, says the technology could be useful in the wake of the current crisis because the registry allows individual mortgages and securities created by mortgages to be tracked over time. As heightened attention is placed on increasing regulations on the market, Duncan says, “We want policy makers and Congress to understand that as they look to ways to make the system more transparent.”

Duncan says he has already held meetings to start educating the government about the technology offered by MERSCORP, but he would not specify who he has met with. Although Livingston and the two affiliated firms did not file until this month, MERSCORP registered to lobby with them during the first week of August.

Bailout Agreement Reached

Congressional Republicans and Democrats reportedly have reached a general agreement to move forward on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry. Coverage from The New York Times is here, from The Washington Post here, and The Associated Press here.

Holland & Knight Office Opens in Abu Dhabi

Holland & Knight opened a new office on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi. Donald Moore, a partner in the firm's Miami office, will become the executive partner at the new location. Joining him will be partner Wayne Gray and associates Harry Hsing, Farhad Alavi, and Ryan Bathie.

According to a statement by the firm, the office, which will focus on cross-border dispute resolution, will let Holland & Knight better serve its clients in the Middle East, parts of Africa, Central Asia, India, and Pakistan. “Holland & Knight lawyers have been traveling to this important part of the world for many years for clients and opening an office in Abu Dhabi is a natural extension of our steady increase in client representations there,” Moore said in the statement.

Legal Times' 30th Anniversary Awards Gala

The D.C. legal community turned out in full force last night to attend the Legal Times 30th Anniversary Awards Gala, held to honor those the paper selected as the 90 greatest Washington lawyers of the last 30 years, as well as to celebrate the newspaper's milestone anniversary.

The honorees, along with their family members and colleagues, filled the elegant ballroom of the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Constitution Ave. (View photos of the event here.) Terry Moran, co-anchor of ABC News "Nightline" and a Legal Times alumnus, emceed the event. American Bar Association President H. Thomas Wells Jr. gave a short speech. A native of Birmingham, Ala., Wells said that Southern lawyers often say they are "called to the Bar." Wells said the importance of that calling was evident when looking at the achievements of the evening's honorees.

In the weeks leading up to last night's gala, Legal Times was busy interviewing several of the honorees, including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Patton Boggs' Thomas Boggs Jr., Wiley Rein's Richard Wiley, Skadden's Robert Bennett, The Pro Bono Institute's Esther Lardent, Equal Justice Works' David Stern, and D.C. Appleseed's Walter Smith. Those interviews were compiled into the following videos celebrating the 90 lawyers.

And this video takes a look at the history of Legal Times:

The videos were shot and produced by Fusion Digital Media.