Law Firm Flips: Now Won't Defend DOMA
Huffington Post reports:
The law firm King & Spalding announced on Monday that it will not continue to represent the U.S. House of Representatives in defending the Defense of Marriage Act.
"Today the firm filed a motion to withdraw from its engagement to represent the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives on the constitutional issues regarding Section III of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act," firm chairman Robert D. Hays, Jr. said in a statement. "Last week we worked diligently through the process required for withdrawal."
“In reviewing this assignment further, I determined that the process used for vetting this engagement was inadequate," he continued. "Ultimately I am responsible for any mistakes that occurred and apologize for the challenges this may have created."
The law firm came under intense criticism from LGBT rights advocates last week after House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced that former Bush solicitor general Paul Clement, a partner in the firm, would be defending the law that defines federal marriage as between one man and one woman. The contract for the deal said that the firm would receive as much as $500,000 for their work on the case.
Jon Davidson, legal director of Lambda Legal, the nation's oldest and largest legal organization working for LGBT equality, told The Huffington Post that defending the law would likely hurt the firm's effort to recruit lawyers. He added that he would also be no longer comfortable working with the firm on cases.
"As legal director, I would take the position that we should not use them as cooperating attorneys with us -- that is, people who work with us on a pro bono basis in cases," said Davidson. "I wouldn't want to team with them, so long as they're actively harming our community by defending DOMA."
D'Arcy Kemnitz, the executive director of the National LGBT Bar Association, said that her group could potentially reevaluate whether King & Spalding would be welcome at its annual career fair -- an event that the firm bragged about participating in on its "LGBT Lawyers" website.
