The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Legal Services Corp. Adds Sidley Pro Bono Chairman

The head of Sidley Austin's pro bono and public interest law committee is heading to the Legal Services Corp. in Washington, the firm and the federal agency announced Tuesday.

The LSC's board of directors yesterday unanimously approved Sidley senior counsel Ronald Flagg as the agency's vice president for legal affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary. He starts his new job June 3.

Flagg said he is "very sad" to leave Sidley. But he said he’s "very excited" to join LSC, which doles out more money for civil legal aid than any other U.S. organization.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup

Wiley Rein has expanded its environment and safety practice in Washington with the addition of partner Steven Richardson.

Before joining Wiley Rein, Richardson was a partner at Van Ness Feldman. His practice focuses on regulation, public policy and litigation in matters related to water, wetlands, hydroelectric, energy and environmental law.

From 1993 to 2000, Richardson also served as an advisor to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

Sullivan & Worcester has added a lateral partner to its environment, energy and natural resources practice.

Elias Hinckley, previously a partner and clean energy practice chair at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, focuses his energy practice on tax, specifically policy and financing. Hinckley brings experience in a number of energy sectors, including wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and coal, among others.

Prosecutor, Two Judges Recommended for Superior Court

A federal prosecutor, magistrate judge and administrative law judge are being considered by the White House for a vacancy on the District of Columbia Superior Court.

The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission, a local body that vets applicants for vacancies on the city's local courts, announced late yesterday it had recommended Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Marie Carroll, Superior Court Magistrate Judge William Nooter and Administrative Law Judge Steven Wellner to take Superior Court Judge A. Franklin Burgess Jr.'s seat. Burgess is retiring in August and seeking senior status.

President Barack Obama will have 60 days to select a nominee. He can choose from the latest group of recommended lawyers, or any lawyer already sent up by the commission for consideration to fill other pending vacancies.

D.C. Superior Court Nominees Testify in the Senate

Two lawyers who spent most of their careers on opposite sides of a courtroom testified today before a U.S. Senate committee in the hopes of serving together on the District of Columbia Superior Court bench.

Washington solo practitioner Michael O'Keefe, whose practice is mostly in criminal defense and family law, and Robert Okun, chief of the special proceedings division at the U.S. attorney's office in D.C., were nominated by the White House in March. At today's hearing, they pitched their extensive history practicing in Superior Court and experience working with a variety of litigants, including those without a lawyer.

Neither nominee faced criticism. Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), who chairs the subcommittee overseeing District of Columbia affairs, said they were "well-qualified" to serve. The nominees did face questions from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the subcommittee's ranking member, about their views on the city's gun laws, which have been the subject of legal challenges; both said they would abide by rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup

A former associate at Williams & Connolly has moved to The Kaiser Law Firm’s Washington office.

Rebecca LeGrand has joined as a partner in the firm’s commercial litigation practice. She focuses on intellectual property, securities matters and white collar criminal defense. Her experience includes working on matters of commercial litigation like cases involving securities fraud, bank fraud, government contracts, intellectual property, unfair trade practices and breach of contract claims.

Prior to joining Williams & Connolly, LeGrand was an associate at Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber. She also worked in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Maryland.

Daily D.C. Lateral Move: Jones Day; Holland & Knight; Drinker Biddle & Reath; Paley Rothman

Jones Day has added a former DOJ trial lawyer to the Washington office.

J. Andrew Jackson has joined as a partner in the government regulation practice. Previously, he was a partner in Dickstein Shapiro’s Washington office where he led the False Claims Act investigations and defense practice. Prior to that, he has served as a U.S. Department of Justice trial lawyer in False Claims Act and government contract litigation.

Jackson has defended clients against fraud and false claims allegations and litigated affirmative claims against the government. He also has experience in complex commercial litigation, including class action defense in pharmaceuticals, software, technology, engineering, construction, and shipbuilding industries.

Age Discrimination Suit Against Georgetown Law Dismissed

Former North Dakota Attorney General Nicholas Spaeth has lost his age discrimination lawsuit against Georgetown University Law Center. A Washington federal judge ruled yesterday that Georgetown presented non-discriminatory reasons – chiefly, Spaeth's lack of academic scholarship – for rejecting his application for a tenure-track teaching job.

After a long career practicing law in government and private practice, Spaeth began pursuing law school teaching posts around 2009. He sued Georgetown and five other schools in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after he failed to get an interview through the Association of American Law Schools faculty recruitment conference in 2010.

In yesterday's opinion, Huvelle found the record was clear that academic scholarship was a "primary concern" for Georgetown in weighing applicants. Spaeth failed to list any relevant publications in his application, she wrote, rebuffing Spaeth's argument that the focus on scholarship was a pretext for age-based bias. Even if Spaeth made it to the interview stage, she found, he failed to show he would have been hired over the three applicants who did get teaching jobs that year.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: Baker Botts

Baker Botts has added an international tax lawyer to the Washington and New York offices. Don Lonczak has joined the firm as partner in the tax and corporate practices.

Lonczak focuses his practice on structuring and negotiating the tax aspects of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate spin-offs, as well as of public and private financings and derivatives financial products. He has experience counseling clients on tax matters associated with cross border transactions. Previously, Lonczak was a partner in Shearman & Sterling’s tax group. It is the second lateral move to Baker Bott’s Washington office this week after energy partner Jay Ryan joined on Monday.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: Davis Wright Tremaine

Davis Wright Tremaine has added a former in-house communications attorney to the Washington office. Christin McMeley has joined as partner in the firm’s privacy and security practice group. She will advise companies in industries like privacy compliance, information governance, data security, public policy, and regulatory matters.

Previously, McMeley was in-house counsel for Charter Communications and led the cable regulatory group and government affairs teams. She also served as the company’s chief privacy officer and implemented their first privacy and data security program.

Prior to joining Charter Communications in 2004, she was an associate at Davis Wright’s predecessor Washington firm, Cole, Raywid & Braverman, where she represented telecom, cable, and wireless entities in federal and state court litigation, and before the Federal Communications Commission.

Washington Attorney Gets Prison for Stealing from Clients

A Washington-based attorney who admitted in January to stealing more than $100,000 intended for his clients has been sentenced to six months in prison, followed by six months of house arrest.

Deairich Hunter was sentenced Thursday for pilfering payments to settle disability and personal injury claims by his clients. As part of his punishment, Hunter was ordered by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell to pay restitution of $253,549 and forfeit $73,901.

From 2003 to 2009, Hunter was hired by clients in disputes arising from disability and personal injury claims. Many of the clients agreed he was entitled to one third of the recovery, according to court papers. Hunter failed to notify some of his clients, however, keeping settlement money for himself. Hunter was disbarred in 2009. Hunter pleaded guilty in January to theft or embezzlement related to health care.