Eric Holder returns to 'last stop' job at Covington, offers thoughts on Snowden and US Supreme Court
Attorney General Eric Holder. ABA file photo by Tony Avelar.
After six years as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, former Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. is returning to private practice at Covington & Burling and giving his thoughts on a number of issues.
A partner at Covington from 2001 to 2009, before he joined the Obama administration, the 64-year-old Holder says his new law firm job will be his “last stop,” the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports.
Even if offered a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, Holder said, he would turn it down: Spending five years as a District of Columbia Superior Court judge during an earlier phase of his career taught him that judges are referees, and he wants “to be a player.”
His practice, out of Covington’s office in Washington, D.C., will focus on complex investigations and litigation. A law firm press release provides more details.
As AG, he saw that corporations often “are trying to do the right thing, but often they operate in an advice vacuum where they seek counsel too late,” he told the Washington Post (reg. req.). He sees his new role at Covington as a chance to help clients avoid such trouble before it occurs.
In an interview with Yahoo! News, Holder said the Department of Justice might be open to a plea bargain that would encourage Edward Snowden to return to the U.S. from Russia.
“I certainly think there could be a basis for a resolution that everybody could ultimately be satisfied with,” Holder said. “I think the possibility exists.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Attorney General Eric Holder resigns but ‘will never leave the work’ “
National Law Journal (sub. req.): “Holder’s Return to Covington Was Six Years in the Making”
The Marshall Project: “Eric Holder on His Legacy, His Regrets, and His Feelings About the Death Penalty”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “As Eric Holder promises justice, Snowden may have more US secrets stored on thumb drive”
ABAJournal.com: “Snowden gets 3-year residency permit, is on track for Russian citizenship”
ABAJournal.com: “DOJ approved NSA Internet data searches for hacking by foreign governments, Snowden documents reveal”
