Washington: Legal Gold

"This place," said a lawyer, "is Sutter's Mill revisited." The place is Washington, where about 20,000 attorneys ply their trade; half are Government employees, the rest are general practitioners or private attorneys specializing in governmental relations. It is the latter group that gives the capital a kinship with the place where the California gold rush began in 1848. Established firms like Covington & Burling, with 185 attorneys, continue to grow at a brisk pace; new firms and branches of out-of-town firms are sprouting almost as fast, largely because of ever proliferating Government regulations. In the past three months alone, more than 1,200 new out-of-state attorneys have sought admission to the D.C. Bar.

Six Washington firms employ more than 100 lawyers, and two--Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn (130 attorneys) and Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (110)--did not even exist 20 years ago. But the hottest growth area is the small new firm with a big name on its shingle. Among former Government luminaries who helped to open offices during the past two years: ex-Federal Trade Commission Chairman Lewis Engman, ex-Army Secretary Martin R. Hoffmann, ex-Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott and ex-CIA Director William Colby. Old-line firms also face competition from specialty firms staffed by former congressional counsels or agency lawyers who helped draft the regulations that clients must now live with. Many of the outfits focus on growth areas in the law like energy and environmental affairs.

In mid-1976, a D.C. Bar committee began trying to jam the revolving door between Government and private law offices. When a Government lawyer entered private practice, the committee proposed disqualifying his entire law firm from any case that the newcomer had handled while on the public payroll. The idea produced "sheer panic" in many legal quarters, Government and private alike. Prospects for significant change are considered slim.

Many outsiders see Washington law as a world of fixing, influence peddling and lobbying over lunch. Insiders insist that, while a few superstars like Edward Bennett Williams or Clark Clifford have considerable access to top officials, the image is vastly distorted. Says one associate: "New York lawyers spend a lot of time poring over statute books. We spend time on the phone--often with the same public-access person available to John Q. Citizen--and then explain the situation to the client. It's usually awfully mundane."

In dealing with a Government official, the Washington lawyer uses the same weapons as his colleagues elsewhere. "I sit there giving him 800 reasoned arguments why my client should be allowed an exemption," says one lawyer. "But what I don't say is more important. If he's not reasonable, he knows I'm going to file a 40-page brief. That means he'll have to write a 40-page reply brief. I work Saturdays; he doesn't. He knows the trouble will go up and down the System and hang around like a black cloud for years."

In larger firms, starting associates receive about $25,000 and reach partnership status (and close to twice that salary) six years later. Senior partners typically make from $100,000 upward; HEW Secretary Joseph Califano pulled down $505,490 in 1976. Are the clients getting their money's worth? Ralph Nader and Mark Green last year urged businessmen to use staff lawyers, saving investors and consumers part of the millions spent annually on Washington legal bills. The capital's gold-rush legal atmosphere is eloquent testimony that the advice is largely being ignored.

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