The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Perkins Coie Got Obama's Birth Certificate

It fell to a partner from the Washington office of Perkins Coie to obtain a copy of President Barack Obama's original birth certificate.

According to copies of letters released today by White House officials, partner Judith Corley initiated the process last week and planned to travel to Hawaii to pick up two copies. Corley represents the president in his personal matters, a job she assumed last year when Robert Bauer left Perkins Coie to become White House counsel.

Corley wrote to Loretta Fuddy in Hawaii’s state health department on April 22. “I am writing on behalf of my client, President Barack Obama,” the letter begins.

She wrote that Obama long ago requested a copy of a “short form” birth certificate, a computer-generated document that is widely accepted by other government agencies. But Corley wrote to ask for a waiver of health department policy to make available two copies of the original, “long form” birth certificate.

Corley did not return messages requesting comment today, but her letter notes her planned travel to Hawaii. “Pursuant to my client’s authorization,” she wrote, “I will be coming to your offices to pick up the copies of the certificates.”

Also among the White House documents (PDF) is a letter few lawyers can claim to have: an authorization from the president to act on his behalf. Obama wrote a one-paragraph letter authorizing Corley to provide any additional information, pay any fees and arrange for the delivery of copies of the birth certificate.

As Obama’s personal counsel, Corley also handles his required financial disclosure reports but little else, according to a January 2010 interview with The National Law Journal. “He doesn’t have a lot of personal legal issues, which is a good thing, I guess,” Corley said then. “I hope it stays that way.”

She’s been a partner at Seattle-based Perkins Coie since 1994. She represented then-Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) during his 1988 and 2004 presidential runs and America Coming Together, a tax-exempt 527 group that opposed President George W. Bush’s re-election.

Update (2:02 p.m.): Bauer confirmed in a news conference today that Corley did travel personally to Honolulu to pick up copies of the birth certificate.

The Morning Wrap

New Jobs: President Obama is expected this week to name Leon Panetta, the director of Central Intelligence, as defense secretary and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Afghanistan, as director of the C.I.A., according to The New York Times.

Food Safety: When Congress revamped food-safety laws last year, small farmers and food producers won a victory when they were excluded from many of the new rules. Now, as the Food and Drug Administration implements the new Food Safety Modernization Act, the small businesses are hoping they aren't snagged by the new rules anyway, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Big Deal: Johnson & Johnson is to buy Swiss medical devices maker Synthes Inc for 19 billion Swiss francs ($21.6 billion) in its largest ever buy, boosting its orthopedic business and reshaping the industry, according to Reuters.

Beyonce's Game: A video game maker says Beyonce didn't play fair in a deal for a game structured around her.Gate Five LLC sued the Grammy Award-winning singer Tuesday in New York. The lawsuit says she made a lucrative agreement in June for a game called "Starpower: Beyonce," then demanded a new deal and abruptly abandoned the project, according to the Huffington Post.

Compensation Suit: Dow Kim, a former Merrill Lynch & Co. head of trading and investment banking, was sued over $2 million in compensation claimed against the Diamond Lake Investment Group hedge fund venture that he started and dropped, Bloomberg reports.

Democrats Want to Review Clement's New Contract

Democrats say they didn't get to look at the first contract that Paul Clement signed to represent the U.S. House in same-sex marriage litigation, until after Clement had signed it. They want to see the second one sooner.

Three Democratic members of the House Administration Committee sent a letter today to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) asking to review any new contract for Clement, who on Monday left King & Spalding for Washington boutique Bancroft. Clement signed a contract this month on behalf of King & Spalding to represent the House’s leadership in cases about the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and he’s planning to continue the work at Bancroft.

“If a new contract is to be signed, we are requesting that all members of the Committee on House Administration have a full opportunity to review and raise questions about its provisions,” the Democrats wrote. They are Reps. Robert Brady (Pa.), Zoe Lofgren (Calif.) and Charles Gonzalez (Texas).

The first contract allowed for billing at a “blended rate” of $520 an hour. It also imposed a cap on fees of $500,000, though lawmakers could raise the cap.

The letter (PDF) also asks whether the House Ethics Committee will review the lobbying provisions in any new contract. As The National Law Journal reported on Monday, a House rule restricts the lobbying that a firm can do when one of its employees is on contract for the House.

Asked for comment on the letter, a spokeswoman for the Republican-led Administration Committee pointed to a statement on Monday from Chairman Dan Lungren (R-Calif.). Lungren praised Clement’s “unwavering commitment to his clients and his dedication to uphold the law — qualities that appear to be inconsequential at King & Spalding, where politics and profit now appear to come first.”

AG Holder: Criticism of Paul Clement 'Very Misplaced'

Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. today weighed in on the controversy surrounding Paul Clement's decision to leave King & Spalding to pursue same-sex marriage litigation, saying Clement does not deserve criticism.

“Paul Clement is a great lawyer,” Holder said today, addressing reporters at the Justice Department. “He has done a lot of really great things for this nation. In taking on representing Congress in connection with [the Defense of Marriage Act], I think he was doing that which lawyers do when we are at our best.”

Holder said he did not know what happened between Clement and King & Spalding, the Atlanta-based firm that yesterday asked to withdraw from lawsuits about the Defense of Marriage Act. “I’m not casting blame,” Holder said. “I think those who were critical of him for taking that representation—that criticism is very misplaced.”

Holder drew a comparison to the criticism, a year ago, that targeted Justice Department lawyers who defended Guantanamo detainees while in private practice. Conservatives then questioned the allegiance of Justice lawyers.

“The people who criticized our people here at the Justice Department were wrong then, as are people who criticized Paul Clement for taking the representation that is going to continue,” Holder said.

Holder’s meeting with reporters came one day after he delivered a speech in the department’s Great Hall to lawyers and staff. Holder today described the speech as rallying the troops.

In the speech, Holder presented the department’s four top priorities going forward—national security, fighting violent crime, combating financial fraud and protecting children, elderly and the victims of hate crimes. Yesterday, Holder said these “essential” priorities “will help shape our legacy.”

Legal Teams Suit Up as Redskins Owner Moves City Paper Lawsuit to Washington

Updated at 3:21 p.m.

In a widely watched case, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder this morning re-filed his defamation lawsuit (PDF) against the Washington City Paper in District of Columbia Superior Court. He'll be keeping Los Angeles-based attorney Patricia Glaser as lead counsel, but adding McDermott Will & Emery to the line-up on the local end of the litigation.

Snyder first sued the paper in February in New York State Supreme Court for New York County over a 2010 City Paper feature that Snyder has argued contains numerous “egregious falsehoods.” The paper has stood by the article, and its attorneys said today that they plan to fight the suit under Washington’s recently-enacted Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) Act.

Snyder announced his decision to move the case out of New York in a Washington Post column posted online last night, citing “legal reasons” for the change in jurisdiction. Glaser (pictured right), in a phone interview this afternoon, confirmed that because Snyder dropped New York-based Atalaya Capital Management – cited at the time as the paper’s owner – as a defendant and added Washington-based City Paper reporter Dave McKenna, the change in venue made sense.

Richard Smith, a McDermott partner with both sports and First Amendment litigation experience, confirmed that he’ll be serving as local counsel but referred questions about the case to Glaser.

The lawsuit stems from McKenna’s Nov. 19, 2010 cover story on Snyder, “The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder,” although Snyder, in his complaint, also accuses the paper and McKenna of launching “an ongoing campaign against Mr. Snyder to smear his business and personal reputation through the publication of false and malicious articles” starting in 2009.

Snyder is suing over several sections of the article he claims are “egregious falsehoods”; he also accuses the paper of publishing an anti-Semitic depiction of Snyder with horns on his head, among other misrepresentations. Glaser said that any damages awarded would go to charity.

City Paper publisher Amy Austin has defended the paper, as well as McKenna, throughout the entire affair. The paper set up a legal defense fund asking for donations from the public to help pay to fight the litigation.

“We still stand by the story and our reporting on it,” she said in a phone interview today.

Maryland Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Laundering Case

A Maryland lawyer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder the profits of marijuana sales, federal prosecutors said today.

The lawyer, Brian Young of Upper Marlboro, Md., had been accused of advising drug traffickers of ways they could make their income appear legitimate. Young accepted tens of thousands of dollars from drug sales and invested it in real estate, prosecutors said.

Later, after prosecutors charged one of the suspected traffickers, William Cornman, they say Young accepted more than $60,000 in cash from Cornman’s partners and used the money to pay for Cornman’s legal fees. A grand jury indicted Young in February on four counts of money laundering and conspiracy.

Young entered a guilty plea to a conspiracy charge today before Judge Gerald Lee in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, prosecutors said in a news release. He’s scheduled to be sentenced July 15.

Young’s attorney, Lisa Manning of Washington’s Record Absolutions, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A phone number for Young’s law firm, O'Brien, Young and Knowles, has been disconnected.

Goulston Adds Three Pillsbury Real Estate Lawyers

Goulston & Storrs has once again raided Pillsbury Winthrop's real estate practice in Washington, adding partners Lee Carter and Yann van Geertruyden, who both specialize in military housing privatization, as well as an associate.

The new hires come a year after Goulston picked up nine real estate lawyers in Washington from Pillsbury, including the managing partner of its D.C. office, Maureen Dwyer.

With 190 lawyers, Boston-based Goulston is known for its real estate expertise. It opened a Washington office in 2001, which with the new hires now stands at 21 lawyers. Other lateral additions have included Shelly Wiesel, former chair of the real estate group from Shaw Pittman; Dennis Moyer, former managing partner of the Northern Virginia office of Hogan & Hartson; and George Weidenfeller, the former deputy general counsel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Our goal since coming to Washington has been to create the District’s strongest and broadest real estate practice,” said Doug Husid, the firm’s co-managing director, in a news release. “Over the last couple of years, we have accelerated our strategic growth in Washington. Once again, we have added lawyers with significant expertise and knowledge which will further benefit both our local and national clients across multiple offices.”

According to her firm bio, Carter has represented developers, underwriters and credit enhancers in more than $4 billion of Navy and Marine Corps military housing privatizations, including privatization of more than 40,000 housing units in the United States.

Van Geertruyden has worked with developers on military housing privatizations in California, Arizona, Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Missouri.

Defamation Suit Against CBS Goes to D.C. Circuit

Lawyers who allege in a suit that the CBS program "60 Minutes" contained defamatory comments about a Georgia poultry farm's alleged connection with terrorist financing want a federal appeals court in Washington to overturn the dismissal of the suit.

Last month, Judge Rosemary Collyer of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the suit Mar-Jac Poultry brought against CBS and a woman featured on the show, Rita Katz, a self-described terrorist hunter. Katz, a professional researcher, has fed tips to federal authorities about alleged terrorist financing.

On the CBS program, which aired in May 2003, Katz used a fictitious name and appeared in disguise. The poultry farm’s name is not mentioned on the broadcast but its name is displayed. Mar-Jac’s suit against CBS and Katz in Washington federal district court has been pending since 2003.

In her ruling in March granting summary judgment for CBS and Katz, Collyer said “no reasonable jury could find that Ms. Katz’s statements about laundering money through misreporting dead chickens were anything but rank speculation, surmise or hyperbole, engendered, perhaps, by her thrill at being involved in an undercover capacity.”

Mar-Jac’s lawyers, who have filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said they don’t think the CBS program’s producers and the show’s viewers “thought 60 Minutes was broadcasting ‘rank speculation’ or ‘hyperbole.’”

“To the contrary, the program has a reputation for broadcasting facts,” said Nancy Luque of Washington’s Luque Marino, the firm that represents Mar-Jac.“This finding by the court poses a dilemma for CBS: can the network let this judgment about one of its premier news program stand?”

A lawyer for CBS, Lee Levine of Washington’s Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, was not immediately reached for comment this morning about the appeal. The D.C. Circuit has not said whether it will hear the case.

Morning Wrap

Snyder v. City Paper: Redskins owner Dan Snyder announced in a column in the Washington Post that he is refiling his defamation lawsuit against the Washington City Paper today. Snyder had previously sued the paper in New York, but has decided to refile in Washington "for legal reasons."

NFL Lockout: A Minnesota federal judge sided with NFL players yesterday in their long-running dispute with the league, ordering an end to the lockout, the Los Angeles Times reports. The NFL has already filed notice with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

Court Date: Two American hikers imprisoned in Iran on espionage charges are scheduled to appear in court today, the New York Times reports. Iranian judges have previously delayed issuing a verdict in light of the absence of a third American, Sara Shourd, who returned the U.S. on bail in September.

At Risk: A woman released from jail in order to seek a heart transplant has been warned by a judge to follow the advice of her doctors or risk re-incarceration. The New York Law Journal has been following the story.

Law School Donation: The University of Maryland School of Law has received a $30 million donation from the W.P. Carey Foundation, the Baltimore Sun reports. The gift is the largest in the school's 200-year history.

First Comments from Viet Dinh on Clement Hire

Onetime Bush Justice Department official Viet Dinh, founder of the Bancroft law firm that former solicitor general Paul Clement has just joined, spoke with us about today's fast-breaking developments. Earlier reports are here and here.

Dinh said it was a "hard decision financially" for Clement to leave King & Spalding, but vindicates a lawyer's obligation not to abandon clients. His comments first appeared in today's Supreme Court Insider, our subscriber-only newsletter on the high court, and the story has been made available more broadly here.