The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

House Panel Reins in Criticism of AG Holder Over 'Fast and Furious'

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. once again faced criticism about the botched Fast and Furious gun-trafficking sting during his testimony Tuesday on Capitol Hill, but this time, he didn't seem to mind the tone.

"I wouldn't say pleasant, but it's different," Holder said before a House Appropriations subcommittee, hinting at the contentious congressional questioning he's faced on the matter several times over the last few months.

"At its core, I tend to agree with you. The questions you're asking today and other people are asking are legitimate."

Holder appeared on Capitol Hill to testify about the Justice Department's proposed $27.1 billion budget for 2013, which he says will focus on financial crimes like health-care fraud and insider-trading cases. But the lawmakers took the the chance to grill him about the Defense of Marriage Act, the HHS requirement on contraception, and, for the seventh time by Holder's count, the Fast and Furious sting.

Washington Solo Practitioner Sues IRS for $81,000 Refund

Updated 1:49 p.m.

A D.C. solo practitioner has filed a complaint against the Internal Revenue Service, alleging that the agency unlawfully seized an $81,000 tax refund.

Wendell Robinson of the Law Offices of Wendell C. Robinson filed a complaint Feb. 21 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking the court for the refund, plus compensatory damages, cost and interest.

The complaint alleges that in June 2010, the IRS notified Robinson that he and his wife had overpaid on their 2009 taxes and were entitled to a refund of little more than $81,000. Simultaneously, the IRS seized the refund, alleging that it was to satisfy outstanding tax liabilities for 2003 and 2004.

Robinson claims that in a subsequent meeting, an IRS representative told him the agency “did not have any evidence that it had sent the Plaintiffs’ the required statutory notices of delinquent taxes for their 2003 and 2004 tax returns.”

In August, Robinson filed for a refund, which was met with letters requesting more time to investigate the claim. Robinson claimed that at the time the complaint was filed, the refund had yet to be returned.

“As a direct and further result, of the Defendant’s wrongful levy, the Plaintiffs are being deprived of their money, without due process of law, and in violation of the applicable sections of the U.S. Tax Code,” Robinson wrote.

Robinson declined to comment. An IRS spokesman said that federal law prohibits the agency from commenting on a particular taxpayer's information.

Dickstein Shapiro Signs on to Lobby for Amateur Athletic Union

Updated 3/2 at 3:15 p.m.

Dickstein Shapiro on Monday revealed that one of its lobbyists, a former senator, is advocating for the Amateur Athletic Union.

Former Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), a senior adviser at the firm, is advocating for the nonprofit, volunteer sports organization based in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. He is following "legislative and federal action related to youth sports," according a lobbying registration filing.

Hutchinson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. But AAU spokesman Ron Sachs said the organization hired Dickstein to help it with federal grants, among other matters in Washington.

The AAU hasn’t had a federal lobbyist before, according to congressional lobbying records that date back to 1999.

Founded in 1888, the organization promotes and develops amateur sports and physical fitness programs across the United States for individuals of all ages. The AAU sanctions 34 sports programs.

The Morning Wrap

Prosecuting Greed: The FBI disclosed that it's building insider trading cases against about 120 people, The Wall Street Journal reports. As part of the agency's push against insider trading, it also rolled out a new advertising campaign featuring actor Michael Douglas, famous for portraying fictional insider-trading villain Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street.

Virginia Tech Trial: Virginia officials and the families of two women slain at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007 were unable to reach a settlement late last week, meaning a trial is scheduled to proceed beginning March 5, The Roanoke Times reports.

Back to Court: The New York Law Journal reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ordered Bank of America's $8.5 billion settlement with investors over mortgage-backed securities back to state court.

Libel Pardon: The president of Ecuador has announced plans to pardon three newspaper executives and one columnist convicted in a libel case, The New York Times reports. President Rafael Correa had successfully sued the newspaper, but said he "never sought to bankrupt anyone."

Supreme Court Insider: In Monday's edition of our exclusive Supreme Court newsletter, reporters Tony Mauro and Marcia Coyle reported on: speculation about Justice Clarence Thomas as a brokered GOP presidential nominee; "weird" oral arguments in Elgin v. Department of Treasury; and a looming circuit split over whether student counselors at state universities can refuse to advise gay students. Click here for a peek at the newsletter and more information on subscribing.

Attorney General Holder Names Tony West Third In Command At DOJ

Tony West, who has led the Justice Department's Civil Division since April 2009, was named today acting associate attorney general.

West, as the third in command at Justice, will replace Thomas Perrelli, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. announced. Perrelli, who managed the Washington office of Jenner & Block, recently announced his plans to leave DOJ.

Holder today also named Stuart Delery the acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Division. West and Delery were not immediately reached for comment this afternoon.

“Tony and Stuart have served the department with professionalism, integrity and dedication, and both bring a wealth of experience to their new positions,” Holder said in a prepared statement. “I’m confident they will provide invaluable leadership and will play a critical role in furthering the department’s key priorities and fulfilling its traditional missions.”

West was a Morrison & Foerster partner when he took over the leadership of the Civil Division, the largest litigation division at Main Justice. Civil Division lawyers have defended the constitutionality of the health care laws and are involved in legal issues stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

West serves as a co-leader on several DOJ-sponsored financial fraud enforcement initiatives, including the recently announced residential mortgage-backed securities working group.

Delery has served as senior counselor to Holder, focusing on civil and appellate matters, since August 2010. The department said Delery has served as a member of DOJ’s health care litigation team.

In 2009, Delery joined the department as chief of staff and counsel to then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden. Delery later became an associate deputy attorney general, focusing on, among other things, the Justice Department’s preparation of a suit challenging Arizona’s immigration law.

Delery is a former litigation partner in the Washington office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. At Wilmer, Delery was vice-chair of the firm’s securities department.

Former Justice Department Official Returns to Chadbourne & Parke in D.C.

Updated 1:01 p.m. Feb. 28

A former Department of Justice official has rejoined Chadbourne & Parke in the firm’s Washington office, the firm announced Monday.

Keith Rosen, former chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Delaware has returned to Chadbourne as a counsel in the white collar defense, regulatory investigations and litigation group.

Rosen first joined the division in 1999. He joined Chadbourne in 2005 before returning to DOJ as chief of the division in 2007. During his time with the U.S. attorney, Rosen investigated financial institution and securities fraud, including insider trading, economic espionage and export violation matters.

During his second stint with the U.S. attorney’s office, Rosen said he spent three years investigating the manipulation of penny stocks by people around country whom were using illegal online promotional schemes. This was a coordinated effort with the Department of Homeland Security, the IRS and state and local police.

Rosen also investigated and prosecuted the head information technology officer of a Wilmington firm who used confidential client information to place trades ahead of mergers and acquisitions.

“Ultimately you’re dealing with one of the most significant types of breaches of trust when you’re dealing with the people overseeing the technology,” Rosen said. “It was a very eye-opening experience for the firm.”

At Chadbourne, Rosen will focus on building up the special investigations and white collar defense practice. In the past, Rosen has represented individual and corporate clients on tax evasion, securities fraud and deceptive trade practices.

Rosen said that his decision to return to the firm was made easier because of the opportunity to work with colleagues like Abbe Lowell and to be part of the expansion of the practice group.

“Keith’s unique combination of skills and experience will be welcome additions to our white collar practice,” Abbe Lowell, head of the firm’s white collar defense, regulatory investigations and litigation group, said in a statement.

Steptoe Partner Returns to Firm After Stint as a Hill General Counsel

A Washington lawyer has returned to Steptoe & Johnson's government affairs and public policy group as a partner after a year as a House Republican aide, the firm announced last week.

James Barnette, a Steptoe partner from 2007 to 2011, served last year as general counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee under Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) He will center his work at Steptoe on telecommunications, energy, environmental and health care matters.

Barnette said he never intended to stay on Capitol Hill for a long time and is happy to be back at Steptoe.

“It is kind of like coming home,” he said.

Prior to his one-year House stint, Barnette lobbied for more than two dozen Steptoe clients, according to congressional records. Those clients include AOL Inc., Cigna Corp. and Dish Network Corp.

He also was the chairman of Steptoe’s political action committee from 2007 to 2011.

Before he joined the firm, Barnette worked a few months as a lobbyist at The Scott Group, which merged with Steptoe in 2007. He previously spent a stint at Collier Shannon Scott (now Kelley Drye & Warren) after leaving the House Energy Committee in 2005. He had served as the general counsel for the panel Republicans since 1995.

Sidley Austin Client Suing D.C. Police in Fatal Shooting of Dog

On June 15, 2010, Marietta Robinson claims Metropolitan Police Department officers shot and killed her dog, Wrinkles, without cause during a search of her home in northwest Washington.

In a lawsuit (PDF) filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Robinson is suing the city and the officers allegedly involved for more than $1.5 million. She's being represented by a pro bono team from the Washington office of Sidley Austin.

“We thought she had a claim,” said Rebecca Troth, a pro bono counsel at the firm. “We thought it was a terribly sad situation. She was terribly upset by it.”

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.

According to the complaint, nine police officers arrived to search Robinson’s house in connection with “suspected criminal activity” involving her grandson. Robinson put Wrinkles, a 13-year-old mixed breed weighing about 62 pounds, in the first floor bathroom so she would stay out of the officers’ way.

One of the officers allegedly opened the bathroom door and fired her gun at Wrinkles at least once. As the officer walked out, the dog tried to bite her boot, according to the complaint, leading the officer to shoot the dog again. Two other officers are accused of also shooting Wrinkles, as Robinson yelled at them to stop.

Robinson identified at least 12 bullet holes around her home following the shooting, according to the complaint.

D.C. Superior Court Judge John McCabe Sworn In

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge John McCabe Jr., one of three new judges confirmed by the Senate in November, was sworn in on Friday.

McCabe, now an associate judge in the criminal division, was first appointed to Superior Court in 2002 as a magistrate judge in the Family Court division. In the year before his nomination, he handled in cases in the criminal division and was the court's deputy presiding magistrate judge.

During Friday's ceremony at the courthouse downtown, Superior Court Magistrate Judge Noel Johnson, a longtime colleague, said in remarks that McCabe brings “a great mind and a great heart to the bench.” Johnson said McCabe comes from a family that values community service, noting that he volunteers as a youth mentor outside of court.

Not all of McCabe’s pursuits are as noble, Johnson added. McCabe plays guitar for Deaf Dog and the Indictments, a rock-and-roll cover band that includes six Superior Court judges and one civilian player.

McCabe did not give any remarks.

Before joining the Superior Court bench, McCabe was an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington from 1998 to 2002. From 1990 to 1998, he was an assistant corporation counsel in the city’s Office of Corporation Counsel, serving at one point as the office’s first chief of the domestic violence section.

This Week In The National Law Journal

Go-To Law Schools: The National Law Journal this week in a special report ranks the top 50 law schools by the percentage of 2011 juris doctor graduates who took jobs at NLJ 250 firms. Karen Sloan reports the percentage of 2011 law grads at the country's top firms has continued a decline that began two years ago. Also included in the report, the NLJ's interviews with hiring partners at four NLJ 250 firms about their summer associate hiring outlook.

Wrestling with Free Speech: U.S. Supreme Court correspondent Tony Mauro examines the high court's scrutiny of the law that makes it a crime to lie about winning a military honor. Mauro reports the Court seemed at first inclined to strike down the Stolen Valor Act of 2006. But Justice Anthony Kennedy soon seemed to offer support to the law.

Call of Duty: D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert Rigsby just doesn't serve the residents of the Washington. Rigsby, the focus of a profile by Zoe Tillman, has spent nine years as a military judge in the U.S. Army Reserve's 150th Legal Support Organization Judge Advocate General Detachment. "Hopefully, being a military judge makes me a better civilian judge, and being a civilian judge makes me a better military judge," Rigsby said.

Stung: A federal trial judge last week dismissed a high-profile Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case in Washington. The NLJ talks with Kobre & Kim partners Eric Bruce and Matthew Menchel about their role in the case and how they approached trial strategy. The Justice Department abandoned the prosecution, rooted in a lengthy undercover sting, after two earlier mistrials.

Inadmissible: Senior NLJ Washington correspondent Marcia Coyle writes about wordsmith Justice Antonin Scalia's disdain for the dictionary Webster's Third. Tony Mauro provides an update on the recusal flap involving Justices Clarence Thomas and Elena Kagan over the upcoming health care hearing.