Posted on 04/26/2011 7:53:33 AM PDT by rhema
Is it now so politically incorrect to oppose gay marriage that a white shoe law firm will throw over a client rather than defend a law signed by President Bill Clinton? Apparently so, after yesterday's show of invertebrate representation by King and Spalding, the giant Atlanta-based law firm.
King and Spalding dropped the House of Representatives as a client yesterday only days after agreeing to argue for the House in defending the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or Doma. The jilting prompted the firm's lead attorney in the case, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, to resign from the firm in what we would call principled protest.
In a letter to King and Spalding Chairman Robert Hays, Mr. Clement explained that he felt obliged to resign out of a "firmly-held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client's legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters. Defending unpopular positions is what lawyers do."
At least there's some honor among lawyers, if not at the top of King and Spalding. In his statement yesterday, Mr. Hays resorted to some spin that the firm had failed in properly "vetting" the House "engagement." But Mr. Clement's letter says "I would have never undertaken this matter unless I believed I had the full backing of the firm."
It's hard to believe such a prominent firm wasn't aware of the high profile of the House case. Speaker John Boehner had convened a bipartisan group to seek counsel to defend Doma after the White House reversed itself and said the Justice Department wouldn't do so. The House group reached out to several firms and chose King and Spalding last week.
The likely story here is that King and Spalding began to fear a political backlash after activists at the
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Gay activists don’t believe in rights for everybody.
The majority of attorneys have the minds of snakes and the hearts of rabbits.
A conservative boycott of this law firm sounds appropriate.
Got that right.
Yet somehow I doubt that little POS that leaked Top Secret information (Bradly Manning?(SP)) will have any trouble finding a lawyer.
you realize, king and spalding have a husband
and wife team doing pro-bono work
for gitmo detainees. the husband feels
dick cheney is more of a threat to America
than terrorists.
Why was this firm retained to begin with? They are in the tank for homosexuals, it turns out.
The left is winning the argument, because they have most of the reporters, and most pundits, talking about the case as “politically incorrect”.
This isn’t a POLITICALLY INCORRECT CASE. This is a POLITICALLY CORRECT case. The majority of Americans SUPPORT DOMA, and want it to be upheld. The politically incorrect view is to refuse to defend a law that a majority of Americans support.
Well, they defended terrorists in Gitmo, and claimed that this was what lawyers do, take the unpopular cases.
Of course, they know that as mad as we all are about terrorists, we on the right aren’t crazy people who will cause violence in their lobby if we don’t get our way.
The left, on the other hand — they don’t mind Muslims because they are adopting the Muslim tactics of fear, intimidation, and violence. Look at Wisconsin. They would shut down democracy to prevent votes they don’t want.
The comments to the WSJ article are certainly revealing of the confused leftist mindset.
One apparent homosexual activist declares that “the market has spoken” to justify the law firm backing out - of course everybody knows that threats, coercion, extortion and blackmail mean the same thing as “the market”.
Another mental Einstein posts about how when a lawyer and his/her client have an intractable conflict over how to prosecute a case, the lawyer can ethically withdraw from that case. That such a situation has nothing whatsoever to do with this specific situation evidently never crossed the leftard’s mind.
You see this a lot in discussions from the left - they will throw any possible line of argument into the mix, no matter how bogus or foolish, and then congratulate themselves for their own wisdom and intelligence.
The left provides a warm and comforting home to supposedly-educated people who in fact are strangers to critical thinking, logic and rationality.
“White shoe law firm”? That’s so gay...
Law firms far larger than that one have either withdrawn from a case or betrayed their clients in order not to offend a powerful agency.
As things now sand in this America of unlimited Federal power, only a lawyer who does not need to make money from being a lawyer can afford to cross the 800 pound gorilla.
And, America is running out of lawyers who are trust fund babies.
Pray for the Republic - the legal system castrati can’t/won’t help preserve it.
From what I understand, there was quite a bit of dissent within the firm. People were threatening to quit.
In the words of the bumper sticker, "I'd rather hunt with Dick than drive with Ted!"
Too bad Dick didn’t take Liz hunting.
as an intelligence officer in all corners of the globe. She has been awarded the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal (2021), Distinguished Intelligence Medal (2021), Legion of Honor (France) (2020), Presidential Rank Award (2013) and the Donovan Award (2006, 2018).
“King & Spalding’s corporate, private equity, family office, and other global clients will benefit from Gina’s unique capability to manage risk,” said Zack Harmon, former FBI Chief of Staff and head of the firm’s National Security Team.
Haspel joins a number of former government colleagues in the firm’s Government Matters practice including Dan Coats, Sally Yates, Rod Rosenstein, Paul Murphy, Sumon Dantiki, Viraj Mirani, and Stephen Vaughn.
“King & Spalding has powerful capabilities to help clients to identify opportunities, manage risk, and gain advantage in the highly-competitive global business environment,” Haspel said. “I look forward to drawing on my experience for the benefit of King & Spalding clients around the world.”
About King & Spalding
Celebrating more than 130 years of service, King & Spalding is an international law firm that represents a broad array of clients, including half of the Fortune Global 100, with 1,200 lawyers in 22 offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm has handled matters in over 160 countries on six continents and is consistently recognized for the results it obtains, uncompromising commitment to quality, and dedication to understanding the business and culture of its clients. More information is available at www.kslaw.com.
Media Contact:
Luis Mocete
212-827-4008
lmocete@kslaw.com
“King & Spalding’s corporate, private equity, family office, and other global clients will benefit from Gina’s unique capability to manage risk,” said Zack Harmon, former FBI Chief of Staff and head of the firm’s National Security Team.
Haspel joins a number of former government colleagues in the firm’s Government Matters practice including Dan Coats, Sally Yates, Rod Rosenstein, Paul Murphy, Sumon Dantiki, Viraj Mirani, and Stephen Vaughn.
“King & Spalding has powerful capabilities to help clients to identify opportunities, manage risk, and gain advantage in the highly-competitive global business environment,” Haspel said. “I look forward to drawing on my experience for the benefit of King & Spalding clients around the world.”
About King & Spalding
Celebrating more than 130 years of service, King & Spalding is an international law firm that represents a broad array of clients, including half of the Fortune Global 100, with 1,200 lawyers in 22 offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm has handled matters in over 160 countries on six continents and is consistently recognized for the results it obtains, uncompromising commitment to quality, and dedication to understanding the business and culture of its clients. More information is available at www.kslaw.com.
Media Contact:
Luis Mocete
212-827-4008
lmocete@kslaw.com
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