(Photo: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.com)[/caption] Washington Wrap is a weekly look at the biggest legal industry news and Big Law moves shaping the legal business in Washington, D.C. Send tips and lateral moves to Ryan Lovelace at rlovelace@alm.com. The revolving door ushering lawyers in and out of prominent spots on President Donald Trump’s private legal team was spinning on overdrive over the last few days. Andrew Ekonomou is in, John Dowd is out, Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing aren't joining after all, and Marc Kasowitz may or may not be taking a more visible role. Ted Olson and Dan Webb joined a gaggle of high-profile lawyers telling the president no thanks, while the recently departed Dowd took a break from some much-needed R&R to praise both Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller. Given what one lawyer told NLJ amounts to a "stigma" for anyone representing the president, a Craigslist poster tried to help with a job ad: "SEEKING LEAD ATTORNEY FOR DIFFICULT CLIENT."
Law Firm Moves, News and Notes:
Arent Fox said this week that it had suspended ties to onetime summer associate Tyrone Hankerson amid allegations of misused funds at Howard University. Arent Fox said its relationship to Hankerson, whom the firm described as a former summer associate and part-time law clerk, is on hold pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Following a flurry of online invective linking Hankerson to allegations that Howard University officials misused funds, Arent Fox scrubbed its online records of Hankerson. Cached pages from the firm's website identify Hankerson as a Howard Law student and a 2016 winner of the Arent Fox Diversity Scholarship, valued at $15,000. Hankerson's former profile on Arent Fox's website said he worked as a summer legal intern at Walmart through a secondment from Arent Fox, worked for Howard's Intellectual Property and Trademark clinic, and served as a research assistant for the director of Howard's Legal Writing Program. Howard University spokeswoman Alonda Thomas said in an email that the school hadn't disclosed any information about Hankerson and wasn't able to comment under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. "We are concerned about this situation," Thomas said, adding, "We are taking a close look to see if we can determine the source of information published about him." Howard University president Wayne A.I. Frederick issued a statement this week saying that the university fired six employees after a review of its financial aid program, but the statement did not identify the employees. Atlanta-based attorney James Walker Jr. said on Twitter that he is representing Hankerson. Walker, who did not respond to an interview request, released a statement from Hankerson saying he had done nothing "illegal or wrong." In an interview with commentator Roland Martin published Friday, Hankerson denied he embezzled any funds from Howard University.
Cozen O’Connor has added Jeffrey Townes as a member in the firm’s intellectual property department from LeClairRyan. Townes’ practice focuses on the life sciences industry, and he oversees post-grant proceedings for clients including inter partes review matters. Kerry McTigue, Cozen O'Connor’s IP department co-chair, called Townes’ technical background and prior experience a “perfect fit” for the firm. Cozen O'Connor has been growing its Washington office in recent months, including with another IP hire, Hugh Marbury, who joined the firm in November 2017 from DLA Piper.
Goodwin Procter added Paul Jin as partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Jin will practice in the firm's antitrust and competition practice, after having worked as a partner in the D.C. office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Andrea Murino, co-chair of Goodwin’s antitrust and competition practice and chair of the firm’s D.C. office, touted Jin’s “nuanced understanding of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and extensive experience in managing clearance investigations.”
Covington & Burling will open offices in Frankfurt, Germany, next week as the firm grapples with business in Europe following Brexit. Covington’s new offices will feature six partners from the Frankfurt-based Heymann & Partner Rechtsanwälte, who will form the backbone of the new outpost along with two Covington partners from New York and Belgium. As Covington expands overseas, the firm also issued this week an advisory cautioning its clients about the potential need to register with the U.S. Justice Department as foreign agents if they are lobbying for exemptions from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.
Speaking of D.C. firms expanding into new markets, Weisbrod Matteis & Copley is opening a new office in Jackson, Mississippi. “I have personally spent a good portion of the past decade litigating in Mississippi, so this feels like a natural move for our law firm,” said Augie Matteis, Weisbrod Matteis & Copley chairman, in a statement. “With a large portion of our practice focused on insurance recovery after natural disasters, we will build a strong presence in coastal states beginning with this Mississippi investment.” Weisbrod Matteis & Copley’s Mississippi office is its second outpost outside D.C., following the addition of its Philadelphia office in 2016. The Jackson office will be staffed by four attorneys, including Chadwick Welch who is relocating from the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Welch is a former paramilitary operations officer for the CIA.
McGuireWoods added John Perkins III, a leading energy and regulatory enforcement lawyer, to its ranks as senior counsel. Perkins formerly worked as a top trial lawyer and acting branch chief in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's office of administrative litigation. His work at McGuireWoods will involve energy clients in FERC cases and supporting transactional lawyers on regulatory issues involving mergers and acquisitions.
Trump looks to have retained Consovoy McCarthy Park in the ongoing emoluments clause battle underway in Maryland federal court. "Our firm welcomes the opportunity to represent President Trump in his individual capacity in this case, which raises novel and meritless claims about alleged violations of the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the Constitution," said William Consovoy, partner at Consovoy McCarthy Park, in a statement posted by Buzzfeed. Consovoy McCarthy Park is a young firm based in Arlington, Virginia. The firm launched in 2014 as the brainchild of two Wiley Rein partners who took a Supreme Court legal clinic with them.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partner George Conway, a right-leaning lawyer formerly under consideration for a top spot in the Trump administration, appears to have been deleting some tweets critical of the president. Conway is married to Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, who is rumored to be under consideration for a new role in the White House's communications apparatus. George Conway, who withdrew himself from consideration to lead the Justice Department's Civil Division and was rumored as a potential solicitor general nominee, has been sharply critical of Trump at times. According to CNN, he deleted a tweet calling Trump's behavior "absurd" and joking that people were beating down the president's door to serve as communications director. As of Friday afternoon, the Wachtell partner's most recent Trump commentary remained unaltered on his Twitter account. He called a speculative report that Trump considered pardons for two former aides "flabbergasting."
