Live shields of large law firms

Recently, federal prosecutors arrested and criminally charged New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on racketeering charges.

When that happened, the press, for a short time, focused on the law firm that hired Sheldon Silver and used him as a promotion tool and a live shield from any claims of impropriety.

Shortly after criminal charges were brought, the law firm took all associations with Sheldon Silver off its website.

Yet, hiring such "live promotion tools", as well as "live shields" from potential prosecution is a longtime policy of many large law firms in this country.

Every law student aspiring for a career in politics knows the steps.

He or she must first go work for either the Legislature, or a District Attorney, or, even better, clerk for a judge, as higher as possible - the best are federal Circuit Judges and Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, but clerking for a state court judge or a federal district court judge is also not bad.

After that, you will have a "green light" to be hired by a large law firm.

Why?

Did clerking for a judge for a year or two enhanced your professional abilities so much?

Of course, not.

You did not try cases while being a clerk.

You did research, you drafted decisions (not necessarily correct decisions), and you definitely did not participate, nor could you, in the actual adversarial litigation.

But - what you acquired is even more priceless for future employment purposes.  Connections with a judge, a badge of approval by the judiciary (you were once a confidential, trusted person for a judge).

And those connections are what is sought when law firms are hiring, no matter that, of course, what is declared is that hiring is on the merits only and not to seek political connections.  Right.

I already wrote on this blog about hiring practices of several law firms - in particular, about Hiscock & Barclays, LLP, a receptacle of law clerks from judges of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of New York, while the firm continues to practice in that court, make local rules for that court, pick magistrates for that court and wine and dine members of that court through the American Inns of Court monthly receptions.

Here is another law firm BOIES, SCHILLER & FLEXNER LLP, the law firm which, according to registration of Stephen D. Zayas, former (and disgraced) disciplinary prosecutor from New York State Appellate Division 3rd Judicial Department, embraced Mr. Zayas as one of their attorneys.

The "live shield" of this law firm is impressive.

There are close to 300 attorneys in several offices of this firm, across the country.

Nearly every third, if not second, attorney in this firm, worked in prominent positions in public employment at one time or another.

Nearly every third attorney in this firm clerked for a judge at one time or another, and thus it may appear that such attorneys still have certain courts' ears.

The firm counts among its 291 attorneys 7 attorneys, two associates and five partners, who worked as law clerks for eight justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, specifically, of the following justices:

1. Justice Lewis F. Powell (in office 1972-87, deceased 1998) - partner David R. Boyd (1973-74);
2. Justice Anthony Kennedy (currently in office, since 1988) - associate Greg Dubinsky (2013-2014);
3. Justice Byron R. White (in office 1962-1993, deceased 2002) - partner Stuart H. Singer (1981-83), partner William T. Dzurilla (1982-83),
4. Justice Paul Stevens (in office 1975 - retired in 2010) - partner Michael J. Gottleib (2004-2005)
5. Justice David H. Souter (in office 1990 - retired in 2009) - Associate Ryan Y. Park (2013-2014)
6. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (currently in office since 1993) - Associate Ryan Y. Park (2013-2014)
7. Justice William H. Rehnquist (in office 1986 - deceased 2005) - partner Alan B. Vickery (1984-85)
8. Justice Sonya Sotomayor (now in office since 2009 - clerkship was when Justice Sotomayor was a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York) - partner Lee S. Wolosky (law school summer clerk, undisclosed year)

 
The law firm also employs or has as partners former (often recent) law clerks of judges of ALL federal appellate courts, multiple district courts where the firm appears, multiple state appellate courts.

The law firm employs former federal and state prosecutors, former judges, hearing officers on the New York State Commission of Judicial Conduct, former advisors to administrations of presidents, to state and federal senators, former high-ranking members of state and federal agencies.

I will publish a detailed analysis, and full two-dimensional tables, in an upcoming book.  

Here is just the list of courts and judges of those courts where this law firm's partners or associates clerked:

United State Court of International Trade	Edward D. Re, Chief Judge
U.S. Supreme Court	Lewis F. Powell
U.S. Supreme Court	Anthony Kennedy
U.S. Supreme Court	Byran R. White
U.S. Supreme Court	Paul Stevens
U.S. Supreme Court	David H. Souter
U.S. Supreme Court	Ruth Bader Ginsburg
U.S. Supreme Court	Byron R. White
U.S. Supreme Court	William H. Rehnquist
U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington	John C. Coughenour
U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri	Scott O. Wright, Chief Judge
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Morris E. Lasker
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Lewis A. Kaplan
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Charles S. Haight Jr.
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Milton Pollack
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Kenneth M. Karas
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Milton Pollack
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Jed S. Rakoff
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	William C.Cooner
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Shira A. Scheindlin
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Jed S. Rakoff
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Barbara S. Jones
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Harold Baer, Jr.
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Sonia Sotomayor
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Albin K. Hellersten
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Kathleen M. Williams
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	K. Michael Moore
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	James I. Cohn
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Lawrence King
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Federico A. Moreno
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Ursula Ungaro
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	James I. Cohn
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Donald M. Middlebrooks
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Jose A. Gonzalez, Jr.
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Alan S. Gold
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Donald M. Middlebrooks
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Federico A. Moreno
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Jose A. Gonzalez
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida	Norman C. Roettger, Chief Judge
U.S. District Court, Southern Disrict of Mississippi	Carlton W. Reeves
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York	Nichals G.Garaufis
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York	Lawrence E. Kahn
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York	Frederick J. Scullin, Jr.
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York	Con G.Cholakis
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York	Kimba W. Wood
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New Jersey	Anne E. Thompson
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois	Gary Feinerman
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois	Gary S. Feinderman
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois	Joan H. Lefkow
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia	Newell Edenfield
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California	Claudia Wilken
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California	Lucy H. Koh
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana	James Brady
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida	G. Kendall Sharp
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia	T.S. Ellis, III
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania	Norma L. Shapiro
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania	Marjorie O. Rendell
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania	Juan R. Sanchez
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania	Louis Pollack
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York	Roslynn R. Muskopf
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York	I. Leo Glasser
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York	Steven M. Gold, magistrate
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York	David G. Trager
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana	Sarah S. Vance
U.S. District Court, District of the Virgin Islands	Curtis V. Gomez
U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey	Jose L. Linares
U.S. District Court, District of Nevada	Lloyd D. George
U.S. District Court, District of Nevada	Philip M. Pro
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland	Frank A. Kaufman
U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii	Alan C. Kay
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia	Gladys Kessler
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia	Charles R. Richey
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia	Charles R. Richey
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia	Henry H. Kennedy, Jr.
U.S. District Court, District of Arizona	Mary H. Murguia
U.S. District Court, Central District of California	Mariana R. Pfaelzer
U.S. District Court, Central District of California	Philip S. Gutierrez
U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia	Brett Kavanaugh
U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia	Ruth Bader Ginsburg
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Barry G. Silverman
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	John T. Noonan
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Pamela Ann Rymer
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Robert R. Breezer
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	A. Wallace Tashima
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Marsha S. Brezon
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Kim McLane Wardlaw
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Adalberto Jordan
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Michael Day Hawkins
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit	Stephen Reinhardt
U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit	Donald R. Ross
U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit	Frank Magill
U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit	Richard S. Arnold
U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit	Steven M. Colloton
U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit	Pasco M. Bowman
U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit	Kenneth F. Ripple
U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit	Frank H. Easterbrook
U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit	Diane S. Sykes
U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit	David F. Hamilton
U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit	Karen Nelson Moore
U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit	Danny J. Boggs
U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit	Gilbert S. Merritt
U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit	Albert Tate
U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit	John Minor Wisdom
U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit	Edith Brown Clement
U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit	E. Grady Jolly
U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit	J. Dickson Phillips, Jr.
U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit	Paul V. Niemeyer
U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit	Harrison L. Winter
U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit	Andre M. Davis
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit	Michael E. Chagares
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit	Anthony J. Scirica
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit	Marjorie O. Rendell
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit	D. Brooks Smith
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit	Joseph A. Greenaway
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit	Joseph A. Greenway, Jr.
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit	Joseph A. Greenway, Jr.
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit	Marjorie O. Rendell
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Chester J. Straub
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Joseph M. McLaughlin
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Robert Katzman
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Joseph M. McLaughlin
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Thomas J. Meskill
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Robert A. Katzman
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Jon O. Newman
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Chester J. Straub
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Wilfred Feinberg, Chief Judge
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit	Peter W. Hall
U.S. Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit	Frank Coffin
U.S. Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit	Jeffrey R. Howard
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit	Rosemary Barkett
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit	Peter T. Fay
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit	Rosemary Barkett
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit	Susan H. Black
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit	Thomas A. Clark
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit	Rosemary Barkett
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit	Charles Wilson
U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit	Timothy M. Tymkovich
U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit	William J. Holloway, Jr.
U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit	Mary Beck Briscoe
U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit	William J. Holloway
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia	Carl McGowan
Supreme Court NY County, Criminal Term	Nardelli, Eugene L.
Supreme Court NY County, Civil Term	Nardelli, Eugene L.
NYS Court of Appeals	Robert S. Smith
NYS Appellate Division 3rd Department	Edward O. Spain
Florida Supreme Court	Raoul G. Cantero, III
Florida 1st District Court of Appeal	Robert T. Benton
federal court New Orleans	?
federal court Miami	?
Court of Appeal, 2nd District of Florida	Robert T. Mann
City of New York, Civil Court	Nardelli, Eugene L.
Circuit Court of Florida, 17th Judicial Circuit	Lester Langer
California Supreme Court	Malcolm M. Lucas
NYS Appellate Division 1st Department	Nardelli, Eugene L.
Alaska Supreme Court	Craig F. Stowers
333rd District Court of Harris County, Texas	James Halbach, Jr.

I would like to remind you the statistics.  80% of litigants in this country cannot afford an attorney.

Many states punish pro se litigants, who are often lack basic literacy skills, with "anti-filing injunctions" when they fail to perfect their pleadings in accordance to the arcane rules required by courts.

Many state and federal courts punish pro se litigants and represented litigants and their attorneys for raising sensitive issues of public concern, such as judicial misconduct and potential conflicts of interest with politically connected attorneys.

It is a well known fact that attorneys who are suspended or disbarred are predominantly solo and independent criminal defense attorneys and civil rights attorneys.

Once again, theoretically, the laws must apply equally to a Joe from the street and his solo private attorney, and to the big firm employing law clerks from all leading courts in the country.

Yet, do you have any doubt as to how courts would resolve claims of potential frivolous conduct against a law firm with such a "live shield", as opposed to a claim made by such a law firm against a solo attorney?

The mere hiring practices of large law firms, the hiring of high-ranking public officials from all branches of the government, and especially former clerks of courts where law firms continue to appear, raises clear issues of potential of influence and ex parte communications between such law firms and the courts, which undermines the trust in the rule of law.

I encourage you, ladies and gentlemen of the public, to go to websites of large law firms and to analyze publicly available information on backgrounds of attorneys in these law firms to verify conflicts of interest in pending cases.

Often, after such a review you may become unpleasantly surprised as to connections of your opponent's law firm with the court where you have a case pending.

And this is just the top of the iceberg, because nobody knows the familial connections between large law firms and the government, as names may be common or last names may differ between members of the same family.

I firmly belief that, where hiring practices of law firms, and engagement of attorneys in "judge screening", judicial discipline, judicial merit selection, judicial "advisory" committees, as well as in sponsorship of judicial education and "mentoring" activities that are accompanied with wining, dining, national and international travel (see, for example, my blog posts about the American Inns of Court), it is imperative to require judges to disclose to every litigant in every case the same information as a juror would have to be disclosing for purposes of background check for conflicts of interest.

Judges who consider that as too much of an invasion of privacy should not come to the bench.

Otherwise, "privacy" of judges cover backroom connections that do not come to light at all, or until after it is too late to undo irreversible harm done to litigants because of conflicts of interests.

Everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion.

To me, the hiring practices of law firms practicing in certain court, when the law firms hire law clerks of judges in that same court, is unsettling to say the least.