Where Are They Now? Job Search Tough for Some Administration Lawyers

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales isn’t the only Bush administration lawyer having trouble finding work.

A handful of lawyers involved in debating terrorism policies faced a difficult job search, the New York Times reports.

The story says David Addington, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, is reportedly still looking for work. Former Pentagon general counsel William Haynes II searched for a job for about a year, before landing an in-house position at Chevron, the story says. His nomination for an appeals court judgeship was blocked because of his role in detention policies. Steven Bradbury, former acting chief of the Office of Legal Counsel, is also apparently looking for work.

Lawyers who left the administration before details became known about their work have fared better, the story says.

John Yoo, the author of controversial Justice Department memos on presidential powers and interrogation techniques, is a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley and is on leave to work as a visiting law professor at Chapman University. Yoo’s former supervisor in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, Jay Bybee, is now a federal appeals judge.

And former deputy White House counsel Timothy Flanigan landed a legal job with Tyco International. He was later nominated to become the second in command at the Justice Department but withdrew his name because of controversy over his involvement with lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his role in formulating terrorism policies.

Flanigan left Tyco to join White & Case, but he is currently a lawyer with McGuireWoods, according to a Times chart.

Updated at 2 p.m. to report that Flanigan is a lawyer with McGuireWoods and to add information about Steven Bradbury.