Attorney General
New DOJ Picks Hail from MoFo, Covington, Hogan & Hartson
Posted Jan 23, 2009, 05:58 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
President Barack Obama has named four lawyers to Justice Department posts, and three of them come from large law firms.
They are:
• Christine Varney of Hogan & Hartson, to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Varney is a former member of the Federal Trade Commission who often voted to allow mergers if companies agreed to pro-competitive concessions, Bloomberg reports. But she often voted to approve antitrust and consumer-protection complaints, including one claiming Toys ‘R’ Us acted to keep toys out of discount stores. Varney heads the Internet practice at Hogan & Hartson, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.).
• Lanny Breuer of Covington & Burling, to head the criminal division. Breuer represented Bill Clinton during impeachment proceedings and baseball star Roger Clemens before a congressional committee probing steroid use, the Associated Press reports.
• David Kris, deputy counsel for Time Warner Inc. and an adjunct law professor at Georgetown, to head the national security division. Kris is a former Justice Department official who has since criticized the legal rationale for warrantless wiretaps, the New York Times reports.
• Tony West, a former prosecutor and Justice Department lawyer now at Morrison & Foerster, to head the civil division. West is a personal friend of Obama’s and is described as a problem solver with a pragmatic approach, the Daily Journal reports (sub. req.).
The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times has a list with the latest appointments and former Justice Department picks.