The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: Barnes & Thornburg; Manatt Phelps

Barnes & Thornburg has added a team of government contracts attorneys to its Washington office. Dorn McGrath and David Hickey join as partners and Will Jack joins as of counsel. Joseph Corrigan joins as a senior public policy adviser. McGrath represents contractors, subcontractors, owners and engineering firms in projects throughout the U.S., Europe, South America and the Middle East. Hickey has experience handling matters related to federal contracts, defense and national security issues.

The former president and CEO of Aegis has joined the federal government affairs and public policy practices at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Kristi Rogers joins as a managing director will advise security and defense firms on doing business with the federal government. She has experience in defense, intelligence, and international business in both the public and private sector.

Judge Approves Class in Race Discrimination Suit Against Secret Service

More than a decade ago, a group of U.S. Secret Service agents sued over allegations that agency officials denied promotions on the basis of race. Yesterday, a judge in Washington approved a class of 120 current and former agents, setting up the potential for a trial that would explore claims that discrimination has persisted at the agency.

The agents, who filed suit in 2000 in Washington federal district court, had asked three times before for class certification. In the latest round, lawyers for the plaintiffs narrowed claims to certain groups of African American agents whose promotion bids, for specific government service levels, were denied in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Judge Richard Roberts of U.S. District for the District of Columbia concluded that the plaintiffs, through anecdotal evidence and an expert's statistical analysis, established sufficient commonality to allow the case to proceed as a class action.

The "interests of efficiency and uniformity support a finding that a class action is a superior method of adjudicating the plaintiffs’ claims," Roberts said in the ruling, published Tuesday.

Conservative Justices Voice Skepticism About Key Voting Rights Act Provision

The constitutionality of a key part of the nation's Voting Rights Act appeared in serious trouble in the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as the justices heard arguments over Congress' 2006 reauthorization of the act.

In Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, the court is asked whether Congress exceeded its authority under the 15th and 14th Amendments when it re-authorized Section 5 under a formula that the challengers contend is outdated and intrusive on state sovereignty. Section 5 currently requires nine states, primarily in the South, and parts of seven others to have any changes in their voting practices pre-cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice or the federal district court in Washington, D.C. The formula in Section 4(b) determines which jurisdictions must submit to Section 5.

While a large crowd rallied in support of the act on the sidewalk in front of the Court, intense questioning ensued inside the courtroom.

Based on the justices' questions and comments, there seemed to be a clear ideological divide on the answer to Shelby County's question,with four justices on the conservative side of the bench voicing major misgivings about Section 5 and four on the liberal side defending the power of Congress to make decisions on where the Act should be targeted. Justice Clarence Thomas remained silent, although in a 2009 Voting Rights Act challenge, he wrote he would find Section 5 unconstitutional.

Finnegan Henderson Shows Steady Rise in 2012

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner's managing partner has some key words for describing the Washington firm’s $348 million gross revenues in 2012, a 1.8 percent increase from the previous year. Steady. Comfortable. Maybe even boring.

"We're very comfortable with where we are, we're very comfortable with the financial situation at the firm," Finnegan Managing Partner Barbara McCurdy said. "We're kind of boring, I guess."

Finnegan, which had a disappointing 2010 because of the economy, appreciates the return to stability. A fixture in the Am Law 100, the firm in 2012 raised its profits per partner 2.7 percent, to $1.16 million, according to our reporting.

BuckleySandler Posts Modest Revenue and Profit Gains in 2012

Financial services specialty firm BuckleySandler saw modest jumps in revenue and profits in 2012, with gross receipts of just under $100 million.

The firm's 25 equity partners took home an average of $1.8 million, up 8 percent from $1.665 million in 2011. Gross revenue at the 151-lawyer firm was $99.5 million, up 3.6 percent from $96 million in 2011. Net income at the firm rose 12.5 percent to $45 million.

However, revenue per lawyer fell from $760,000 to $659,000. The firm's headcount grew by 25 last year. In addition to partners, associates and counsel, BuckleySandler also now employs 34 so-called regulatory attorneys, who are not on the partner track.

The Morning Wrap

Charm Offensive: Mary Jo White's path to the Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a crucial juncture: the Congressional charm campaign. Lawmakers are scrutinizing Ms. White ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing, The New York Times reports.

I Spy: The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5 - 4 decision ended a nearly five-year effort by a coalition of lawyers, human rights workers, media organizations and others to challenge the constitutionality of the nation's major federal surveillance law, The National Law Journal reports.

Filling the Cabinet: Jack Lew won the Senate Finance Committee’s approval to become U.S. Treasury secretary just as lawmakers struggle to avoid across-the-board government spending cuts scheduled to take effect on March 1, Bloomberg reports.

Federal Judge Oberdorfer, Who Died at 94, 'Tried to Do Justice Wherever Possible'

By Zoe Tillman and Tony Mauro

Judge Louis Oberdorfer, who spent more than three decades serving on the federal court bench in Washington, died on February 21 at age 94. In 60-plus years of practicing law, Oberdorfer was on the front lines of the fight for civil rights, from combatting racial discrimination to advocating for prisoners' rights. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black; worked in private practice at what would eventually become Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr; served in the U.S. Department of Justice under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; and helped establish the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Legal Services Corporation.

In a statement on behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, Kerry Kennedy called Oberdorfer, who was appointed to the court in 1977, a "towering figure in the American judicial system" and said that throughout his career he "remained a dynamic legal mind dedicated to pursuing America's most just future." The Lawyers' Committee said in a statement that he "made profound and lasting contributions in the fight for racial and social justice in America."

Oberdorfer's former clerks, colleagues and friends recalled some of the highlights of his career and shared their thoughts on his legacy with Legal Times.

House Panel Open to Pending Merger Between American, US Air

Members of a U.S. House subcommittee in a hearing this morning seemed generally receptive to the pending merger of American Airlines and US Airways, skimming over antitrust concerns to focus on what the deal might mean for their individual districts.

The bottom line for some members of the Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Subcommittee was simple: the Justice Department approved the mergers of Delta and Northwest in 2008 and United and Continental in 2010, so American and US Air should have their chance to combine as well.

"They created other airlines with significant advantages," said subcommittee chair Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.). "If we don't let these guys merge," they'll be at a disadvantage.

Superior Court Judge Burgess' Retirement Opens New Vacancy

After 30 years on the bench, District of Columbia Superior Court Judge A. Franklin Burgess Jr., is retiring, the D.C. Judicial Nomination Commission announced today.

Burgess said today that he hadn't decided what he’d do after retiring, but that he did plan to apply for senior status as a judge. "I feel fortunate to have had a chance to do this job," he said. His retirement, which comes at the end of his second 15-year term, will be effective August 3.

Burgess' retirement was expected; in testimony before the D.C. Council earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, the nominations commission chair, said they were anticipating that he would step down this year. The commission is accepting applications (PDF) from local lawyers interested in filling Burgess' seat through April 5. Applicants have to be an active member of the D.C. Bar, a bona fide D.C. resident, and must have been actively practicing or teaching law for the past five years.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: McGuireWoods

A former staff attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division has joined McGuireWoods in Washington as a partner.

Louis Greenstein has joined the firm's government, regulatory and criminal investigations practice and will include securities enforcement and compliance matters and representing public companies, public accounting firms, broker-dealers, and investment advisers and their officers. He spent the past 11 years at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

At the SEC, Greenstein conducted investigations to evaluate and enforce compliance with federal securities laws. He also participated in the prosecution of civil and administrative enforcement actions.