The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Scalia Finds a New Favorite Pizza Place

The publicity tour for Justice Antonin Scalia's new book continued today with an online interview on the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog. One of the hints in his book Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, co-authored by Bryan Garner, is for advocates to learn everything they can about the judges before whom they appear — including their favorite restaurant.

Journal blogger Dan Slater noted that Scalia's own favorite D.C. Italian restaurant, A.V. Ristorante, closed not long ago. Scalia's response: "Isn’t that a shame? I sometimes go to Tosca, but Tosca’s a lot pricier than A.V. used to be. What I recommend is right across the river in Crystal City, a little place called Bebo. It’s much less pricey. The ambience is not as posh. But the food is just as good. The pizzas are perhaps even better than they were at A.V. They have a wood-burning pizza oven imported from Italy."

It so happens we reviewed Bebo in January here, and agree with the justice on the pizzas and the food in general. Service was a little chaotic when we visited, but Roberto Donna's offerings at Bebo were far better than A.V.'s, especially in its later years.

Virginia Seeks to Salvage Abortion Law

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced today he will seek en banc review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit of a recent decision striking down the commonwealth's partial birth abortion law.

"Given the significance of the issues at stake, and the fact that the United States Supreme Court recently upheld a very similar federal ban on the procedure," McDonnell said in a news release, "the full court should review the ruling by the divided three-judge panel."

In a 2-1 decision issued May 20 in the case Richmond Medical Center v. Herring, an appeals panel said Virginia's law imposed an "undue burden" on the right to an abortion. It did so, the panel reasoned, because its wording exposes all doctors to criminal liability in late-term abortions — even those who did not intend to perform the illegal procedure but did so by accident.

Abortion groups had celebrated the panel decision as a sign that lower courts were still scrutinizing state abortion laws even though the Supreme Court in last year's Gonzales v. Carhart upheld the federal law banning partial-birth abortions. Virginia might fare better before the full 4th Circuit.

Hastert Joins Dickstein

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert starts work on Monday as a Senior Adviser to Dickstein Shapiro's lobbying practice, the firm has announced. He'll be the practice's second member with that title, joining former Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R- Ark.).

The head of the firm's lobbying practice, Andrew Zausner, says Hastert will not lobby. Instead, he'll continue to live in Illinois — spending about half his time in Washington — and providing strategy advice to the firm and its clients.

"We expect him to be sought after," Zausner says, highlighting the former speaker's role on energy, communications, and transportation issues.

Hastert served in the House for more than twenty years, and as speaker for eight. After leaving Congress in November, the Illinois Republican has been back in his home state, helping Gov. Rod Blagojevich try to broker a $31 billion public infrastructure deal for Illinois.

Bob Dole Blasts Scott McClellan

The Politico has gotten its hands on a scathing email sent from former Sen. Bob Dole, now special counsel in Alston & Bird's D.C. office, to former White House press secretary Scott McClellan. In the message, Dole reams McClellan for his newly released book, What Happened, which offers a shockingly critical portrayal of the George W. Bush administration.

Dole certainly isn't one to mince his words: "There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don't have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues… No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique."

You can read more of the email here.

Civil Rights Division Employee Sues DOJ, Alleges Discrimination

A 13-year veteran paralegal in the Civil Rights Division has filed a suit claiming she was discriminated and harassed by managers who repeatedly passed her over for advancement because she is African-American.

Joi Hyatte's last promotion came in 1999 and she has been bypassed ever since because of her race, says the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Hyatte's suit accuses ex-voting section chief John Tanner and former section 5 unit chief Yvette Rivera of subjecting Hyatte and "her African-American colleagues to numerous forms of discrimination and harassment." It also says Main Justice failed to investigate the allegations and complaints filed by "multiple employees."

Despite outstanding annual reviews, Hyatte complains that DOJ "actively" sought only white and Hispanic candidates from outside the department for higher-paying analyst positions in the voting section. The vacancies were not offered to existing DOJ paralegals, which circumvented regular hiring procedures, according to the suit.

Hyatte claims Rivera "disproportionately" denied performance awards, including cash bonuses, to blacks and downgraded their evaluations "solely on their race."

The complaint also says Tanner failed to rein in or discipline three white male lawyers who "behaved in a racially and sexually offensive manner" toward two female analysts -- one white, the other black -- in February 2007:

"The attorneys mocked the Caucasian analyst for displaying pictures of prominent African-American civil rights activists and leaders on the walls of her office."

They also made other derogatory remarks.

David Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor representing Hyatte, says at least six other African-Americans in the voting section have complained of similar treatment. Several filed complaints with DOJ's Equal Employment Opportunity Office.

Hyatte wants a judge to order she get a promotion and back pay from since July 2006, when she took on more analyst work without the pay increase or title change.

"She's been a loyal, committed and dedicated employee who cares very much about the mission of the agency," says Vladeck, who works with the Institute for Public Representation, a clinical program at Georgetown University Law Center.

DOJ's Civil Division, which represents government agencies in lawsuits, is likely to step in and answer the suit.

"We probably haven't even been served as yet," says Charles Miller, a DOJ spokesman. "We would have to review the complaint to determine how we would ultimately respond in court."

Tanner, who left Main Justice last month for the Alabama Law Institute, could not be reached for comment.

He got in trouble last fall when he made an infamous remark about the impact of voter ID laws on minorities. "Minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first," Tanner told the National Latino Congress conference.

Rivera, who was replaced as acting section 5 unit chief earlier this year and now is in the litigation section, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

A Quick Look at D.C. Summer Associate Class Sizes

Summer associates have been descending on the District all month long. Here’s a sampling of this year’s class sizes in Washington law offices, compared to the number of summers housed in the offices last year.

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr: 51 this year, 47 last year.

Hogan & Hartson: 76 this year, 85 last year.

Steptoe & Johnson: 38 this year, 30 last year.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom: 34 this year, 34 last year.

Sidley Austin: 34 this year, 30 last year.

Dickstein Shapiro: 23 this year, 24 last year.

You can check out Legal Times’ full report on summer associates, including additional class sizes, in Monday’s issue.

Morning Wrap

Ironic: The New York Law Journal via Law.com reports that the lawyers bringing the shareholder class action against Refco Inc. have been getting help from Refco’s former CEO—something one of the laywers says could be a first.

Am Law 200: The Am Law 200 is out today. Read the overview of this year’s results here.

Gitmo Protestors: D.C. Superior Court Judge Wendell Gardner Jr. yesterday convicted thirty-four people of misdemeanor charges for demonstrating outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on the anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo Bay. The WaPo has more.

Insider Trading: Preliminary charges of insider trading have been filed against the former co-chief executive of European Aeronautic Defense and Space, reports the NYT.

McDermott's Health Hire

McDermott Will & Emery has added new partner to its Washington health law and lobbying practice: Sheila Walcoff. A former official at the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, Walcoff left the administration last summer to serve as the health policy adviser to Fred Thompson’s failed presidential bid.

At McDermott she’ll join Eric Hargan, another recent hire from Health and Human Services. In announcing her hire, the firm notes her Hill experience. Before moving to the health field, Walcoff served as chief counsel for the House Armed Services Committee.

Holland & Knight Picks Up IP Team From Seyfarth Shaw

Four patent litigators and a patent agent have joined Holland & Knight’s intellectual property practice group in its Washington office.

Jon Crocker, Victoria Hao, Sunwoo Lee, Baldine Paul and patent agent Donald Monin Jr. joined the firm from Seyfarth Shaw.

Monin says the move was prompted by the group’s clients who wanted to take advantage of Holland & Knight’s existing services in patent litigation.

“We have some pretty big clients ,and big clients like to hang out at a firm with other big clients,” he says.

Joshua Krumholz, chair of the firm's intellectual property group, says he aggressively pursued the group because of how well they work as a team, which he says was "not an insignificant factor."

The group joined Holland & Knight over a two-week period to allow for previously scheduled litigation. Monin, the last of the group to join the firm, joined on May 19.

Paul Clement Off to Georgetown Law -- For Now

Georgetown University Law Center announced this morning that Solicitor General Paul Clement will join its faculty as a visiting professor for the fall. But in an interview this morning, Clement told Legal Times the position is not a sign that he is heading for academia for good. "It's full-time, but temporary — a full-time job until I get the next full-time job," he said. "I'm pulling a Seth." That's a reference to Seth Waxman who went from the SG's office to Georgetown as a visiting professor before joining the firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in July 2001.

"It's just not practical to talk to law firms while you are here," Clement explained from the Justice Department office he will be vacating June 2. And since he wanted to take time off to be with his family — including three sons — the summer was the time to do it. He's looking forward to conducting the same seminar on separation of powers that he taught at Georgetown as an adjunct until he joined the SG's office in 2004. "I'll be updating it a bit," he said, referring to some changes in doctrine since 2004. He'll also work with the law school's Supreme Court Institute. Clement got his undergraduate degree at Georgetown before going to Harvard Law School.

After arguing 49 cases before the high court for the government, Clement makes no secret that he hopes eventually to argue there again for a private firm — as predecessors Theodore Olson, Waxman and Walter Dellinger have done. "I've loved the opportunity and in this position, it's possible to move to the private sector and do something not radically different," he says. "When you're secretary of defense, I guess you can't go into the private sector and order the movement of troops."

In a statement welcoming Clement, Georgetown law dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff said, "Paul Clement is a supremely talented advocate and one of the nation’s brightest legal minds. We look forward to welcoming him back to the Law Center."