Greenberg Traurig

Greenberg Traurig big bush2 donor, jack a raised $ too

west va vs epa

bought gorsuch house

(no relation to Maurice "Hank"?)

5/18 dumps rudy g

https://www.eenews.net/articles/meet-the-lawyers-teeing-up-the-supreme-court-climate-showdown/

1/22

as arguments approach in the most significant Supreme Court environment battle of the decade, teams of lawyers are already making their case for how the justices should view EPA’s climate authority.

When the justices take the bench on Feb. 28 to hear arguments in West Virginia v. EPA,they will arrive armed with information from reams of briefs prepared by some of the nation’s leading environmental lawyers.

Those attorneys’ arguments will lay the groundwork in a high-stakes case that has the potential to upend EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants — one of the nation’s largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions.

the challenge — brought by Republican-led states and coal companies — asks the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that struck down a Trump-era EPA rule gutting the Obama-era Clean Power Plan.

The 2015 Obama rule invoked EPA’s authority under theClean Air Actto set systemwide requirements for power plant emissions reductions.

After the D.C. Circuit ruling, President Biden’s EPA had a clean slate to craft its own rule. The agency had said it would not return to the Clean Power Plan, whose goals have already been met by the power sector, even though the regulation never took effect.

The justices then took the unusual step of agreeing to hear a dispute over a regulation that does not technically exist.

Their ruling in the case, which is expected by next summer, could not only constrain EPA from issuing a comprehensive new carbon rule but also prevent Congress from handing off broad regulatory authority to federal agencies.

Here are some of the lawyers to know in this year’s high court climate slugfest:

Lindsay See

Leading the briefs for West Virginia is Lindsay See, the state’s solicitor general.

The coal-rich state, joined by 18 others, filed the first plea for the Supreme Court to weigh in on EPA’s climate authority. It was followed by three other petitions, which are now consolidated in one massive case.

See has served as West Virginia’s leading litigator since 2017 and previously worked as an associate atGibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, a firm with a prominent Supreme Court practice.

She has appeared once before the nation’s highest bench, in a 2018 case related to a discrimination challenge against an exemption in West Virginia tax law that protected state and local — but not federal — employees from having their pension benefits taxed. West Virginia lost the case.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) and other state lawyers said the D.C. Circuit should not have allowed EPA to regulate power plant emissions under a “rarely used, ancillary provision of the Clean Air Act.” They referred to Section 111(d) of the statute, which served as the basis for the carbon rule.

“Save for a few general factors EPA was to take into account, the lower court told EPA it has ‘no limits’ on the emission-related measures it can impose — on any economic sector or almost any actor,” says the states’ most recent brief, which was signed off on by See.

See is a Harvard Law School graduate and clerked for former D.C. Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith.

Paul Seby

One other state has echoed West Virginia’s arguments in a petition and brief led by a lawyer who has been involved in the EPA carbon rule battle since the Clean Power Plan days.

Paul Seby, a shareholder at the firm Greenberg Traurig LLP and special assistant to North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem (R), signed off on a brief that said the D.C. Circuit ruling “undermines the cooperative federalism framework carefully crafted by Congress” by finding that EPA — rather than states — can set power plant performance standards.

North Dakota v. EPA is one of the four petitions in the consolidated Supreme Court case.

Seby has argued against EPA carbon regulations before, back when the Clean Power Plan was before the D.C. Circuit. The court held a marathon argument over the regulation in 2016 but never reached a ruling.

Earlier that year, the Supreme Court had blocked the rule from taking effect, which allowed the Trump administration to dismantle it.

Seby holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of San Diego and a law degree from Lewis & Clark College.

Andrew Grossman

One of the other lead petitioners in the climate case, Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC, hired Andrew Grossman to make its case to the high court.

Grossman leadsBakerHostetler’s appellate practice and is a frequent conservative commentator on wide range of administrative and constitutional issues.

Grossman is an adjunct scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute and a former legal analyst at the Heritage Foundation. He’s also a familiar face on Capitol Hill, having testified several times before the House and Senate Judiciary committees.

In Westmoreland’s petition, Grossman raised what some environmental advocates referred to as a killer question: whether EPA may use Section 111(d) to create performance standards for existing stationary sources under the provision’s “hazardous air pollutants” program.

The justices granted the petition alongside others, but they said they would only consider the second question posed by Westmoreland’s petition: whether EPA’s carbon rule violated the major questions doctrine, which restricts federal agencies from deciding issues of “vast economic and political significance.”

Grossman attended Dartmouth College and theGeorge Mason University’s SCALIA School of Law.

Yaakow Roth

The fourth petition in the consolidated case comes from North American Coal Corp., represented byJones Daypartner Yaakov Roth.

Like the other challengers, the coal company argues that EPA and the D.C. Circuit have taken far too broad a view of federal climate authority under the Clean Air Act.

Roth comes to the EPA climate case with lots of experience before the Supreme Court. He was the brainchild behind an argument that led the Supreme Court to overturn convictions in the New Jersey “Bridgegate” scandal.

He has also fought to preserve restrictive voting laws in Arizona and to dismantle the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.

Roth has clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and a federal appeals court judge.

He is a graduate of Harvard University and York University.

Elizabeth Prelogar

Before the Supreme Court agreed to hear West Virginia v. EPA, Elizabeth Prelogar had argued on behalf of the federal agency that it was too early for the justices to get involved.

The solicitor general noted in a brief filed in August that Biden’s EPA has not yet written a new carbon rule and has no plans to revive the Obama plan.

EPA instead intends to issue a new rule “after taking into account all relevant considerations, including changes to the electricity sector that have occurred during the last several years,” she wrote.

Prelogar, who was confirmed in late October, has already made several appearances before the Supreme Court, including in one case in which she argued on behalf of the federal government against abortion laws in Mississippi and Texas.

Since her appointment as acting solicitor general in January, Prelogar has also led Supreme Court briefs in several environmental cases, including one in which the Biden administration backed efforts by the developer of the PennEast natural gas pipeline to acquire state-owned land in New Jersey (Energywire, March 10, 2021). The pipeline company won its case, but the project was eventually canceled.

Prelogar, a Harvard Law School graduate, has previously served as assistant to the solicitor general and has worked in private practice. During a prior stint at the Justice Department, she served on the special counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

She clerked for Attorney General Merrick Garland when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

Prelogar is the second woman to be confirmed as solicitor general. Kagan was the first.

Sean Donahue

Environmental groups that support broad EPA regulatory authority have turned to an experienced Supreme Court litigator to represent them in the case: Sean Donahue.

Donahue has been a go-to lawyer for environmental groups and public health advocates in some of the most high-profile litigation of the last decade, including Clean Air Act and climate cases.

He’s also represented environmentalists in key cases on the social cost of carbon for fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards.

Donahue and his team, including the Environmental Defense Fund’s Vickie Patton, will have a challenging task ahead of them. Several conservative justices have signaled skepticism of doctrines requiring them to defer to agency expertise, and the current case appears to be a coordinated effort to curtail EPA’s regulatory authority broadly.

In an interview, Donahue said once again it may be an environmental case that set an important precedent for administrative law.

"Statutes like the Clean Air Act," he said, "necessarily depend upon expert agencies to apply Congress’ health and environmental directives to complex factual records, developing technologies, about particular industries and pollutants."

Donahue, who works for Donahue, Goldberg & Littleton, clerked for former Supreme Court Justices Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens. He’s also a veteran of the Justice Department. He attended Columbia University and University of Chicago’s Law School.

Beth Brinkmann

Another attorney with Supreme Court experience is making the case for electric utilities that want to preserve the D.C. Circuit decision striking down the Trump-era carbon rule.

Before the justices granted the case, Covington & Burling LLP partner Beth Brinkmann led a brief on behalf of Consolidated Edison Inc. and other companies that said Supreme Court review of a nonexistent regulation would run the risk of a “ruling untethered to actual circumstances.”

Moreover, she wrote, the red states and coal companies are seeking relief from the justices even as the power industry has achieved the Clean Power Plan’s 2030 emissions reductions targets more than a decade in advance —even though the rule never officially took effect.

“Those changes, which include reductions in the cost of emission-reduction technologies and increasing consumer preferences for clean power, have only accelerated since adoption of the ACE Rule,” she wrote.

Brinkmann has argued more than two dozen times before the Supreme Court. As former deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department’s civil rights division, for example, she defended the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act.

She has also worked in the appellate practice at the firm Morrison & Foerster and as an assistant federal public defender representing indigent criminal defendants.

Brinkmann is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and Yale Law School. She clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.

Elbert Lin

A utility industry group that opposes EPA’s ability to craft rules like the Clean Power Plan has staffed its legal team with an attorney who, at only 43 years old, has already made a significant impact on environmental law at the Supreme Court.

Elbert Lin was the lawyer who secured the unprecedented stay of President Obama’s climate regulatory regime, theClean Power Plan, in 2016while he was West Virginia’s solicitor general.

Lin said in an interview that his interest in environmental and administrative law was born out of necessity when he was West Virginia’s solicitor general. It was during Obama’s second term, and the administration was promulgating many major environmental rules, including the Clean Power Plan.

"Environmental regulations were of significant importance of the state," he said.

Now in private practice at the firm Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, Lin is back in the EPA carbon rule litigation, representing America’s Power, a trade association of companies that produce electricity from coal.

Lin, who is the son of Taiwanese immigrants, has also argued key Clean Water Act cases at the high court. He argued on behalf of Maui, Hawaii, in a case over whether a federal permit is required for pollution that is pumped underground but eventually reaches the ocean.

The Supreme Court delivered a new test for determining whether a permit was needed, and a federal judge in Hawaii later sided with environmental groups arguing that Maui should have secured a Clean Water Act approval (Greenwire, Oct. 21, 2021). Legal experts say they are watching to see how other courts apply the Supreme Court’s test.

Lin attended Yale for undergrad and law school, and he clerked for a federal appeals court judge and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Reporters Lesley Clark and Niina H. Farah contributed.

https://www.alternet.org/2659906142/

no lnx

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has drawn considerable scrutiny over what his critics consider conflicts of interest, from his relationship with billionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow to his wife Ginni Thomas' efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Now, according to Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla, another relationship involving a High Court justice could merit close scrutiny — and this time, the justice is Donald Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch.

Przybyla, in an article published by Politico on April 25, reports, "For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colorado. Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the High Court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals."

Trump nominated Gorsuch for the High Court in 2017. And on April 16, 2017, according to Przybyla, Brian Duffy of Greenberg Traurig "put under contract the 3000-square-foot log home on the Colorado River and nestled in the mountains northwest of Denver, according to real estate records."

READ MORE:John Roberts sidesteps Senate request to discuss Clarence Thomas scandals

"He and his wife closed on the house a month later, paying $1.825 million, according to a deed in the county’s record system," Przybyla reports. "Gorsuch, who held a 20 percent stake, reported making between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale on his federal disclosure forms. Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank."

Przybyla adds, "Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the Court, according to a Politico review of the Court's docket. They include cases in which Greenberg either filed amicus briefs or represented parties. In the 12 cases where Gorsuch's opinion is recorded, he sided with Greenberg Traurig clients eight times and against them four times."

READ MORE:Clarence Thomas defends luxury vacations paid for by billionaire Republican donor

Read Politico's full report at this link.

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lnx

Przybyla, in an article published by Politico on April 25, reports, "For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colorado. Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the High Court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals."

Trump nominated Gorsuch for the High Court in 2017. And on April 16, 2017, according to Przybyla, Brian Duffy of Greenberg Traurig "put under contract the 3000-square-foot log home on the Colorado River and nestled in the mountains northwest of Denver, according to real estate records."

"He and his wife closed on the house a month later, paying $1.825 million, according to a deed in the county’s record system," Przybyla reports. "Gorsuch, who held a 20 percent stake, reported making between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale on his federal disclosure forms. Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank."

Przybyla adds, "Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the Court, according to a Politico review of the Court's docket. They include cases in which Greenberg either filed amicus briefs or represented parties. In the 12 cases where Gorsuch's opinion is recorded, he sided with Greenberg Traurig clients eight times and against them four times."

Read Politico's full report at this link

---

politico bad code box size]

lnx

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has [lnx] to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Now, according to Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla, another relationship involving a High Court justice could merit close scrutiny — and this time, the justice is Donald Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch.

Przybyla, in an on April 25, reports, "For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colorado. Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the High Court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals."< according to Przybyla, Brian Duffy of Greenberg Traurig "put under contract the 3000-square-foot log home on the Colorado River and nestled in the mountains northwest of Denver, according to real estate records. >READ MORE:

"He and his wife closed on the house a month later, paying $1.825 million, according to a deed in the county’s record system," Przybyla reports. "Gorsuch, who held a 20 percent stake, reported making between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale on his federal disclosure forms. Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank. Przybyla adds, "Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the Court, according to a Politico review of the Court's docket. They include cases in which Greenberg either filed amicus briefs or represented parties.

In the 12 cases where Gorsuch's opinion is recorded, he sided with Greenberg Traurig clients eight times and against them four times." zxz for nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colo. Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the high court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals.>On April 16 of 2017, Greenberg’s Brian Duffy put under contract the 3,000-square foot log home on the Colorado River and nestled in the mountains northwest of Denver, according to real estate records....federal disclosure forms.<...Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the court, according to a POLITICO review of the court’s docket....one of the more highly publicized rulings in recent years, a multistate suit which reversed former President Barack Obama’s plan to fight climate change through the Clean Air Act.

Gorsuch joined the court’s other five conservative judges in agreeing with the plaintiffs — including Greenberg’s client — that the Environmental Protection Agency had overstepped its authority by regulating carbon emissions from power plants in the decision that makes it more difficult for the executive branch to regulate emissions without express authorization from Congress.

Duffy, who in addition to serving as CEO is chief of Greenberg’s entire 600-lawyer litigation department, said he has never personally argued cases before Gorsuch or met the justice socially.

“I’ve never spoken to him,” Duffy said. “I’ve never met him.”

Once he learned Gorsuch was among the owners, Duffy said, he cleared the sale with his firm’s ethics department.

Gorsuch did not respond to inquiries about the sale, his disclosures or whether he should have reported Duffy’s identity as the purchaser.

Supreme Court rules do not prevent justices from engaging in financial transactions with people with interest in court decisions, but Gorsuch’s dealings with Duffy expose the weakness of the court’s disclosure procedures. For instance, in reporting his Colorado income, Gorsuch listed as his source only the name that he and his two co-owners gave themselves, Walden Group, LLC. The report didn’t indicate that there had been a real estate sale or a purchaser.

Such a sale would raise ethical problems for officials serving in many other branches of government, but the Supreme Court sets its own rules. It has largely left justices to make their own decisions about when and how to report outside gifts and income.

Justice Clarence Thomas is currently under scrutiny for accepting lavish trips from GOP billionaire donor Harlan Crow, who also purchased three Georgia properties from the justice. Thomas did not report the property sales. Of the vacations, Thomas said he had been advised that “personal hospitality from close friends” need not be disclosed.

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a frequent critic of Supreme Court ethics rules, sent a statement responding to POLITICO’s inquiry about Gorsuch’s sale of the Colorado property.

“We have seen a steady stream of revelations regarding Supreme Court Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and of public servants,” said Durbin. “The need for Supreme Court ethics reform is clear, and if the Court does not take adequate action, Congress must. The Senate Judiciary Committee will be closely examining these matters in the coming weeks,” said Durbin, who has asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify next month on the court’s ethics rules.

Kedric Payne, director of ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said he believes “investments in LLCs require more details than the justice includes in his financial disclosures.“

“This transaction appears to also require naming the buyer. The public has a right to know that justices will fully comply with disclosure rules instead of providing only a tiny peek into their financial disclosures,” he said, noting more facts are needed to distinguish whether it’s a disclosure omission or violation. The center was founded by a Republican former chair of the Federal Election Commission.

Unlike Crow, who bought properties from Thomas, Duffy says he is neither a friend nor a confidant of Gorsuch. But he is one of the nation’s most powerful attorneys.

His Greenberg bio describes him as “A true ‘working CEO,’” and says he “focuses his practice on trial and appellate work in the class action, employment, energy, commercial contract, and product liability areas, serving as counsel in high-profile cases throughout the United States.”

At the time of the sale, Duffy had headed Greenberg Traurig for about a year. A search of his contributions to political candidates revealed that they went primarily to Democrats, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-N.Y.). He contributed the maximum amount allowable for individual donors to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, though he also made contributions in the past to Republicans such as former Sen. John McCain of Arizona and a GOP New York City mayoral candidate, Joe Lhota.

The Duffy family has long resided in Colorado. Duffy attended the University of Colorado Law School and, in 2019, he was the recipient of the “most admired CEO” award by the Denver Business Journal.

Duffy, who described himself as an avid fly fisher, said he’d been looking for the right property for his family for many years. Duffy said he did not know Gorsuch was one of the owners when he made his first offer.

“The fact that he was going to be a Supreme Court justice was absolutely irrelevant to the purchase of that property. It’s a wonderful piece of property and we’re so glad we bought it,” said Duffy.

Gorsuch and his associates purchased the property in 2005 through their LLC, the Walden Group, which was dissolved after the 2017 sale. The home was originally listed, in July of 2015, for $2.495 million. The fact that the property had sat on the market for so long and that its price had been lowered a couple times suggests the partners were having trouble finding a buyer.

The real estate transaction is another example of how the lack of a firm code of ethics for the court stands in contrast to most other branches of the U.S. government, including the White House and Congress as well as lower court judges.

The code of conduct for lower court U.S. judges says judges should “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities,” and “discourages frequent transactions or continuing business relationships with lawyers or other persons likely to come before the court” on which the judge serves. Unlike many of the country’s state and federal courts, the Supreme Court lacks a code of conduct.

“This is exactly the type of situation that an ethics code that included vetting of transactions and full disclosure would clear up,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, a progressive research organization. “Without decisive action, the conservatives on the Supreme Court will forever tarnish its reputation in our public life,” he said.

At the time of Gorsuch’s appointment, his ownership of the Colorado property drew attention only for the fact that his co-owners were major figures in the oil and gas industry. Gorsuch’s ties to the oil and gas industry run deep.

As a lawyer at a Washington law firm nearly 20 years ago, Gorsuch represented oil and gas billionaire Philip Anschutzon a variety of matters as outside counsel, and it was through this connection that Gorsuch befriended his future real estate partners.

Anschutz helped Gorsuch win an appointment to an open seat on a federal appeals court in Denver, including directly lobbying the George W. Bush White House....Gorsuch’s connections to Anschutz extend to .

The Walden Group included Kevin Conwick, who had advised Anschutz in deals to buy sports teams and other projects like the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and Cannon Harvey, who oversaw Anschutz’s venture capital investment division...

===

http://www.nndb.com/company/247/000124872/

Name	Occupation	Birth	Known for
Jack Abramoff	Government	28-Feb-1958	Casino Jack
James Bacchus	Politician	21-Jun-1949	Congressman from Florida, 1991-95
Kevin A. Ring	Attorney	c. 1970	Team Abramoff
Matt Salmon	Politician	21-Jan-1958	Congressman from Arizona, 1995-2001
Arthur L. Schechter	Diplomat	6-Dec-1939	US Ambassador to the Bahamas, 1998-2001
Paul E. Shapiro	Attorney	c. 1941	Former CAO, Revlon, Sunbeam
Samuel K. Skinner	Government	10-Jun-1938	Bush 41's Chief of Staff
Timothy Tomlinson	Business	14-Feb-1950	Former Partner, Tomlinson Zisko
Regina Vargo	Government	c. 1949	Asst. US Trade Representative, 2001-06

EMPLOYMENT

Name	Occupation	Birth	Death	Known for
Susan Ralston	Government	15-Oct-1967		Former Abramoff, Rove aide

EXTRANEOUS

Name	Occupation	Birth	Death	Known for
Julie Doolittle	Relative	?		Wife of Congressman John Doolittle

Abramoff's "team" of people at Greenberg Traurig in March 2001 were listed as Michelle Diedrick, Shawn Vasell, Tony C. Rudy, Alan Slomowitz, Todd A. Boulanger, Amy F. Berger, Padgett Wilson (Pat Wilson), Sara Rizzo, Kevin A. Ring, Julie Plocki, and Susan B. Ralston.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-06-abramoff-bush_x.htm

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greenberg_Traurig

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is a Miami-based 1,350-lawyer full-service international law firm "with thefourth-largest number of lawyers in the United States and eighth-largest worldwide." The firm was founded in 1967 by Miami lawyer Mel Greenberg. "Much of Greenberg Traurig's growth has been achieved through several mergers, including its 1998 pairing with Atlanta entertainment practice Katz, Smith & Cohen, and its 1999 acquisition of Minkin & Snyder." [1][2][3][4]

Cesar L. Alvarez - President and CEO

Contents[hide]

Lobbying

"In 1998, Greenberg Traurig was named one of the top lobbying firms in the nation by Fortune magazine. The Firm was ranked No. 40 among the nation's top lobbying firms having 'the most power and access in the business.'" [5]

Bush-Greenberg Traurig Connections

The following enumerations were published in September 2004 by, among others, the Portland Indymedia. Some sources have been provided in support.

"Represented President George W. Bush in the Bush-Gore 2000 Florida election vote recount."

"Court's reputation being tested," Associated Press (cjonline.com), December 11, 2000: "Barry Richard, a partner in the firm, is the lead Bush attorney in Florida. Richard, who is a Democrat, said he was called Nov. 8 about representing Bush." re Barry S. Richard
"Ethics experts say Scalia, Thomas connections not conflicts of interest," CNN, December 12, 2000: See "Justice Scalia's sons": "Another Bush lawyer, Barry S. Richard, is a partner in that firm's Tallahassee office."
"Florida Attorneys for Bush and Gore to Debate 2000 Presidential Election Recount," University of Florida, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, March 25, 2003: "Barry Richard, chief Florida attorney for Bush ... an attorney of Greenberg Traurig law firm in Tallahassee,..."
:{"Greenberg Traurig Instrumental in Florida Vote Recount Victory,:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:" GTLaw.com, January 13, 2004.

"Personally represents Florida Governor Jeb Bush."

"Governor Bush Appoints Raquel A. Rodriguez to Serve As General Counsel," My Florida, November 25, 2002. re Raquel A. Rodriguez
"Gov. Bush names Greenberg Traurig lawyer general counsel," South Florida BizJournal, November 25, 2002.
":{Hayden Dempsey:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}: Joins Greenberg Traurig LLP," GTlaw.com, December 23, 2003. re Hayden R. Dempsey
Profile: Hayden R. Dempsey, Republican National Lawyers Association.
Profile: Justin Sayfie, Poole McKinley & Blosser website. re Justin J. Sayfie.
Bush Donor Profile: Justin J. Sayfie: here and here, Texans for Public Justice.

"Hired son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on election day 2000--after which Justice Scalia cast one of the 5 to 4 deciding votes which placed Bush in presidency." re John F. Scalia

"Court's reputation being tested," Associated Press (cjonline.com), December 11, 2000: "John Scalia accepted a position with the Miami-based firm Greenberg Traurig on Nov. 7, election day."
"Ethics experts say Scalia, Thomas connections not conflicts of interest," CNN, December 12, 2000. See "Justice Scalia's sons": "John Scalia, 35, has accepted a job offer with the Washington office of Greenberg Traurig. Another Bush lawyer, Barry S. Richard, is a partner in that firm's Tallahassee office. ... John Scalia won't actually join the Greenberg, Traurig firm until sometime next year, according to partner Joe Reeder, who said the job was offered weeks before the election and has no connection to the Florida case."
"Attorney John Scalia Joins Greenberg Traurig LLP’s Tysons Corner Office," GTLaw.com, January 10, 2001; Scalia's GTLaw profile.

"Miami-headquartered firm partially funded/sponsored delegation to Israel by House-Senate Armed Services Committee members and government contractors to witnes and be briefed on interrogation resistance procedures and torture techniques ... One of lobbyists joining them to Israel included Jack London, CEO, CACI International, the American defense contractor implicated by Major General Antonio M. Taguba in outsourced Iraqi torture at Abu Ghraib prison." See Taguba Report.

Ali Abunimah, "Israeli link possible in US torture techniques. In exchange for interrogation training, did Washington award security contracts?" The Daily Star (Lebanon), May 11, 2004. Also posted May 18, 2004 by San Francisco Indymedia.
Tom Flocco, "Gonzalez confirmation hearing ignored US / Jordan torture links and legislative junket to Israel to witness 'anti-terror' exercises," 911citizenswatch.org, January 7, 2005.

"Firm has prominent administrative positions in Massachusetts 9/11 Fund which also involves Bush family banking house Brown Brothers Harriman."

"$500,000 DONATION LAUNCHES MASSACHUSETTS 9/11 FUND. Stop & Shop and Greenberg Traurig LLP Launch Fund Supported by Victims’ Families," GTLaw.org, January 2002.
Yahoo! Search results, December 20, 2005.

"One appointed as General Counsel of the Department of the Navy and its Office of Naval Intelligence just 90 days before the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon."

"Alberto J. Mora, General Counsel of the Department of the Navy, "the 20th General Counsel of the Department of the Navy, was sworn into office on July 25, 2001."

"Firm works with 9-11 victims on planning out their U.S. gov't hushmail/bribery estates."

"As The Revolving Door Turns. How does Washington work these days? A telling tale of two Capitol Hill staffers," Business Week, July 11, 2005: "On the Hill, both [Tony C.] Rudy and [Gary M.] Shiffman were involved in issues that were creating a new and lucrative lobbying niche for Greenberg Traurig and others: claims brought by victims of war, terror, and torture against foreign governments and companies. In these cases, U.S. cooperation was key, either in pressing the POWs' case against Japanese companies or in unblocking foreign assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury."

"Firm partner is Marvin S. Rosen, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Finance Chairman who supervised activities of convicted fund-raiser and DNC vice-chairman of finance John Huang who had to return half of $3 million+ raised by him because of contributions from illegal foreign sources.

Profile: Marvin S. Rosen, GTLaw.com website.

Bush still owes Greenberg firm nearly one million dollars for work done by dozens of lawyers and paralegals--leaving some to question why a Republican candidate would hire a Democratic lawyer from a Democratic firm ...

:{"Bush Florida 2000 recount committee still owes lobbyist's former firm $314k:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:. White House directs queries to RNC," The Raw Story, May 5, 2005:

"Greenberg Traurig has yet to receive more than $314,000 in legal fees charged to a Bush committee during the 2000 Florida recount ... As a corporation, Greenberg’s unpaid tab represents a massive in-kind campaign contribution, far larger than anything that went unreported by DeLay. But it appears to be legal: corporations are allowed to donate any amount to the nebulous type of committee employed during the recount. It would, however, violate the committee's self-imposed $5,000 contribution limit from individual donors. ... Greenberg’s leadership has apparently declined to press the issue. Jill Perry, Greenberg’s director of marketing and public affairs, declined to comment," according to The Raw Story's John Byrne, May 5, 2005.

To this list can be added:

U.S. presidential election, 2004:

"Dubya's Mouthpieces," FlaPolitics Blogspot, August 10, 2004: "With the Democrats threatening to file lawsuits in anticipation of post-presidential election fallout, Republicans are amassing their own team of legal eagles, headed in Florida by Gov. Jeb Bush's former deputy general counsel. ... Hayden Dempsey, who left Bush's office to join the prominent Greenberg Traurig firm last year, confirmed Monday he has been tapped as the statewide chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign's legal defense team," Lawyers for Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. See Lawyers for Bush-Cheney.
"Here We Go Again. Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns assemble armies of lawyers in Florida, expecting Election Day voting problems and ..." Conrad & Scherer, August 16, 2004.
"OF COUNSEL: POLITICS: READY, AIM...HIRE -- *Florida Trend* column by Pat Dunnigan (http://www.fltrend.com), October 2004: Barry Richard "has agreed to represent the Bush-Cheney ticket again should litigation arise."

Greenberg Traurig represented Diebold Election Systems, Inc.:

According to *Common Cause*, Greenberg Traurig earned $275,000, from 2002-to-date:

"Diebold Election Systems, owned by Diebold Incorporated, is one of the leading voting machine vendors across the country. The company has been the focus of a national debate about the role partisan politics should play in the voting machine selection process. Walden O'Dell, Chairman, President and CEO of Diebold Inc., is a Pioneer for President Bush’s reelection campaign, and has hosted a fundraiser with Vice President Cheney that netted $500,000. (Atlanta Journal Constitution 12/6/03) Diebold Inc. and Mr. O’Dell gave $100,965 in soft money to the Republican Party during the 2002 election cycle on the national level. Diebold Inc.’s executives and employees have given $63,290 in campaign contributions at the federal level since 1999, all but $4,775 was donated to Republican candidates and committees. (Center for Responsive Politics) Chairman and CEO of Diebold Inc., Walden O’Dell, rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on August 27, 2003. O’Dell also stated he is committed to 'helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President next year.' (N.Y. Times 12/2/03)."
On behalf of Diebold, in 2004 alone, Greenberg Traurig lobbied: "A8833B, S6207, A9731, Budget Issues, Voting/Ballot Regulations, A9725, A9433 Electronic Voting Machines, Voting Regulations, HAVA Funding, Full Face Ballot."

According to NYC Lobbyist Client Search records, Greenberg Traurig represented Diebold Election Systems, Inc. from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2004.

12. The same Greenberg Traurig lawyer who represented Elian Gonzalez ([Barbara Lagoa http://www.3dca.flcourts.org/Judges/31-Lagoa.shtml]) just prior to the 2000 election also represented George W Bush in the 2000 recount. http://www.aclufl.org/legislature_courts/legal_department/briefs_complaints/elianamicus.cfm

Jack Abramoff and the Indian Casinos

In March 2004, Jack Abramoff, "one of K Street’s top Republican rainmakers, ... stepped down from lobbying shop Greenberg Traurig amidst a Senate investigation into the multi-million dollar fees that he charged several American Indian tribes since 2001," Roll Call reported. [6]

According to the Washington Post, February 12, 2005, "Greenberg Traurig pressured Abramoff to resign from the firm last year when his fees and financial arrangements were disclosed in a Washington Post report. The firm said at the time it was unaware of certain personal financial transactions by Abramoff, but it has declined to provide details of what Abramoff told his partners about his dealings with Scanlon and the tribes." [7]

Legal Times reported October 4, 2004, that at the September 29, 2004, Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing, "Greenberg Traurig, escaped without a scratch. In fact, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., went out of his way to praise the firm for cooperating fully with the committee's investigation into Abramoff and Scanlon. And Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., portrayed the firm as a victim ... But questions remain: How was a firm stacked with hundreds of legal and lobbying professionals unable to see what was going on with their flamboyant and controversial partner? And will Greenberg be able to use ignorance of Abramoff's activities as a defense against investigations and possible litigation?"

"Privately, current and former Greenberg lobbyists and lawyers, as well as those who have had close working relationships with the firm, describe a firm culture where few direct questions were asked of Abramoff because of his rainmaking abilities. Abramoff's practice brought in about $10 million a year, and without him, Greenberg's D.C. lobbying revenues have tanked -- dropping more than 90 percent in the first half of 2004, according to lobbying disclosure records."E-mails, checks and other documents released by the committee -- many of them subpoenaed from Greenberg -- show Abramoff and Scanlon collecting tens of millions of dollars and shuffling the money through a network of foundations and side businesses. The transactions, Senate investigators contend, were designed to blur just how much cash was being collected and where it was coming from."Greenberg insiders assert they had no idea about Abramoff's potentially illegal activities. 'He flat out lied to us,' says one former colleague of Abramoff. ... But Greenberg may not have an easy time distancing itself from the scandal and avoiding possible liability by painting itself as an unwitting victim of an errant employee." [8]

Key People

Larry J. Hoffman, Chairman of the Board, Chairman of the Exec. Committee [9]
Cesar L. Alvarez, President and CEO [10]
Frances M. Wylde, Director, Accounting

Shareholders, Of Counsel, Associates

Miami, Florida, Lawyers.com.
McLean, Virginia, Lawyers.com.

Contact details

1221 Brickell Avenue

Miami, FL 33131

Telephone (305) 579-0500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (305) 579-0500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

URL http://www.gtlaw.com

SourceWatch Resources

SourceWatch Resources re Jack Abramoff

External links

Corporate Profiles

"Greenberg Traurig, LLP," Hoovers.com, accessed May 6, 2005.
"Greenberg Traurig, LLP," Vault.com, accessed May 6, 2005.
"Traurig Greenberg" Firm Profile, Business Counsel, Inc., accessed May 6, 2005.
Lobbying Firm: Greenberg, Traurig, Hoffman, Lipoff, Rosen & Quentel: "Companies and organizations that have hired this firm ranked by amount spent (1998-2004)", Center for Public Integrity; accessed November 29, 2005.

Articles & Commentary

Kevin Cullen, Abuse in the Catholic Church: "Plaintiffs' meeting with O'Malley delayed," Boston Globe, September 6, 2003: Greenberg Traurig represented "260 of the 550 alleged victims with outstanding claims against the archdiocese."
"Greenberg Traurig Recruits GOP Veteran Sam Skinner," Roll Call, May 17, 2004: "Less than three months after ousting superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, the law firm Greenberg Traurig is taking its first steps to rebuild its Washington office and continue its meteoric rise up the list of top lobbying firms in Washington."
Michael Hardy, "Law firm hires Reichelt," fcw.com, January 6, 2005: "Karl Reichelt, who left his position as chief of staff at the General Services Administration late last year, has joined the law firm of Greenberg Traurig as director of federal marketing in the Governmental Affairs practice. Reichelt will share leadership of the federal marketing team with fellow director Bethany Noble."
"Japanese Law Changes: Greenberg Traurig Moves Quickly," PR Newswire, April 1, 2005: "In addition to Greenberg Traurig opening its own office in Tokyo, the firm and established Japanese law firm Hayabusa Kokusai Law Offices have announced their entry into a strategic alliance."
Lou Dubose, "The Pimping of the Presidency. Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist Billing Clients for Face Time with G.W. Bush," Texans for Public Justice (mollyivins.com), June 10, 2005.

Thomas Kramer

Interim Report: Chapter V: The Failure of Government Agencies to Vigorously Pursue Campaign Violations. Part B: FEC Enforcement Practices and the Case Against Foreign National Thomas Kramer: Did Prominent DNC Fundraisers Receive Special Treatment?": Thomas Kramer, "a German citizen with considerable real estate holdings in the South Beach area of Miami, illegally contributed over $322,600 to national, state, and local candidates of both the Democratic and Republican parties. The Tampa Tribune noted the donations and published an article in September 1994 questioning whether or not Kramer was eligible to make political contributions. The following week, Kramer 'voluntarily' disclosed his illegal activity, claiming ignorance as to the illegality of his campaign contributions. ... Upon learning that Kramer’s contributions might not be legal, almost all of the contributed money was returned to Kramer by the parties involved. The FEC ultimately fined Kramer, his secretary (Terri Bradley), the law firm of Greenberg Traurig Hoffman Lipoff Rosen & Quentel, P.A. ('Greenberg Traurig'), and the Republican Party of Florida ('RPF') for giving or receiving Kramer’s contributions."

Jack Abramoff and Indian Casinos

Brody Mullins and John Bresnahan, "Abramoff Resigns From Greenberg Traurig Amid Senate Probe," Roll Call, March 2, 2004.
Matthew Haggman and Dan Christensen, "Greenberg Traurig Lobbyist-Rainmaker Resigns," law.com "Daily Business Review," March 4, 2004: "The Greenberg Traurig law firm has forced out its biggest Washington rainmaker amid controversy over tens of millions of dollars in fees charged to four Indian tribes over the past several years. ... Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist and fund-raiser with close ties to powerful House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, resigned on Tuesday at the request of the firm. He was the head of Greenberg's Washington lobbying office."
Jim Snyder, "Jack Abramoff hits back at Greenberg Traurig," The Hill, March 4, 2004.
Kate Ackley and Andy Metzger, "In Plain Sight," Legal Times, October 5, 2004.
Susan Schmidt, "Abramoff Ex-Firm Settles With Tribe. Former Lobbyist Was Paid Millions on Both Sides of Casino Issue," Washington Post, February 12, 2005.

Bush Connections

Tom Flocco, "NH widow fights 9-11 estate challenge linked to President Bush," tomflocco.com, September 24, 2004. See September 11, 2001, "Lawsuits": Mariani Vs Bush.
"Bush Punishes Mariani for RICO suit: 9-11 widow fights estate challenge....linked to Bush," Portland Indymedia, September 28, 2004 (repost).
John Byrne, "Bush Florida 2000 recount committee still owes lobbyist's former firm $314k. White House directs queries to RNC," The Raw Story, May 5, 2005.
Barbara Lagoa [11], http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4723, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802EFDC163BF933A25750C0A9669C8B63&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss, http://transcripts.cnn.com/2000/US/03/09/cuba.boy.04/.
Sue Cobb, www.law.miami.edu/pdf/spring2001.pdf, http://www.americanambassadors.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Members.view&memberid=73, http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/sue-cobb.asp?cycle=08

Leonard N. Ross and Philadelphia Mayor John Street

"Leonard N. Ross, Former Law Partner of Philadelphia Mayor John Street, Joins Greenberg Traurig LLP," Greenberg Traurig, April 3, 2000.
John Shiffman, "Corruption inquiry turns to ex-adviser to Street," Philadelphia Inquirer, November 13, 2005.
John Shiffman, "Lawyer's loan gets scrutiny in probe. The former head of a Penn's Landing redevelopment committee is part of an FBI inquiry into corruption," Philadelphia Inquirer, November 25, 2005.
John Shiffman and Marcia Gelbert, "Street fundraiser charged with corruption," Philadelphia Inquirer, December 6, 2005.
Jeff Blumenthal, "Confidante to Phila. mayor indicted in alleged development scheme," Philadelphia Business Journal, December 6, 2005.
"Abramoff law firm has a new scandal -- in Philly," Attytood, December 6, 2005.
John Shiffman and Marcia Gelbert, "Friend of Street to admit guilt. The mayor's former law partner was charged with extortion," Philadelphia Inquirer, December 7, 2005.
John Byrne, "Firm knew Abramoff was paid by ex-DeLay aide before scandal broke, associates say," The Raw Story, January 2, 2006.

Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greenberg_Traurig"

Categories: Scandals | Corruption

not related?

wiki

Maurice Raymond "Hank" Greenberg (born May 4, 1925) is an American business executive and former chairman and CEO of American International Group (AIG), which was the world's 18th largest public company and its largest insurance and financial services corporation.

He is currently chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co., Inc. (C.V. Starr), a diversified financial services firm that is named for the founder of AIG, Cornelius Vander Starr. He joined C.V. Starr as vice president in 1960 and was given the additional responsibilities of president of American Home Assurance Company in 1962. He was elected director of C.V. Starr in 1965, chairman and chief executive officer in 1968 and continues in that role. Greenberg is the chairman of the board of directors and managing director of Starr International Company Inc., and chairman and chief executive officer of Starr International USA, Inc. (Starr International USA). C.V. Starr and Starr International USA are collectively known as the Starr Companies.^[citation ^needed]

[hide]

Address:

1221 Brickell Avenue

Miami, Florida 33131

U.S.A.

Telephone: (305) 579-0500

Fax: (305) 579-0717

Website:www.gtlaw.com

Private Company

Incorporated: 1967

Employees: 1,100

Sales: $572.5 million (2003)

NAIC: 541110 Offices of Lawyers

Company Perspectives:

For more than three decades, our firm has challenged traditional approaches and worked to provide practical business-focused solutions for emerging companies and Fortune 500 Corporations.

Key Dates:

1967:Firm is founded in Miami, Florida.1985:Broward County office is opened.1991:Larry Hoffman succeeds Melvin Greenberg as CEO.1997:Cesar Alvarez succeeds Hoffman as CEO.1999:Firm enters Chicago, Boston, Delaware, and Los Angeles.2002:Offices are opened in Amsterdam and Zurich.

Company History:

Miami-based Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international law firm with approximately 1,100 lawyers in 24 offices located in such major U.S. cities as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, New York, and Washington, D.C. The firm in recent years has also expanded into Europe, opening offices in Amsterdam and Zurich. The Miami office handles the firm's Latin American business. According to theNational Law Journal,Greenberg Traurig ranked as the 12th largest law firm in the United States in 2003. It was also listed byFortunemagazine as one of the top 25 most influential lobbying firms in Washington, D.C. During the 2000Presidential election controversy in Florida, Greenberg Traurig represented George W. Bush.

Founding of Firm: 1967

Greenberg Traurig was founded in Miami in 1967 by three area lawyers: Melvin Greenberg, Robert Traurig, and Larry Hoffman. According to a 1991Miami Review profile of the firm, "partners Greenberg and Traurig say one of the reasons the trio established the firm 24 years ago was that, as Jews, they didn't feel they'd fit in Miami's white-shoe corporate practices. So they opened their own firm, modeled after New York' smaller transactional practices that also are largely Jewish in population, Greenberg says." Greenberg became the chief executive officer, and Hoffman, in the words of theMiami Review,assumed the role of "a behind-the-scenes hatchet man and numbers cruncher." Traurig, a 1950 University of Miami School of law graduate, became something of a rainmaker for the firm in the real estate field of Miami-Dade County, much of which he attributed to fortunate timing. He told theMiami Heraldin 2003, "As the population increased and the need for new residential communities became more obvious, I was in the right place at the right time. There were few people at that point who were representing builders and land developers at public hearings and I was the beneficiary of good luck." Perhaps of more importance was Traurig's ability to make important political connections in Miami-Dade. When major developers decided to become involved in the market, they quickly learned that the zoning lawyer who had the most pull and could deliver was Robert Traurig. He was instrumental in westward development to the Everglades, which some critics charged was detrimental to the long-range health of the area's environment. According to theMiami Review, "Traurig asserts that his work and the westward growth serve the county's long-range needs, specifically accommodating population growth. Damage to the environment, Traurig says, is minimized by environmental regulations and county reviews. Still, when he talks about the issue, Traurig admits he's 'defensive.'"

Greenberg's management style was conservative, and the firm was slow to expand beyond south Florida. A move into Palm Beach failed to take hold, primarily because Greenberg Traurig brought in Miami lawyers rather than hire locally connected attorneys. The business eventually petered away. The firm would not make the same mistake when it opened a Broward office in August 1985, and during its rapid expansion in the 1990s Greenberg Traurig became notorious for cherry-picking local talent to establish a beachhead in a new city on which to build--rather than to rely on growth through acquisitions. In the meantime, the firm carried on as a Miami firm that was mostly known for its real estate work. According to theMiami Review, Greenberg Traurig targeted "small and mid-sized companies," hiring "Jewish and Hispanic attorneys to attract similar clients." Greenberg intended to move into such practices as admiralty, labor, and immigration practices but, in his own words, "never got around to it."

In 1987, after being in business for 20 years, Greenberg Traurig took formal steps to transfer leadership from the name partners to a select group of 14 younger partners. It was a long-range plan that also included the turnover of the chief executive position to a second generation lawyer, which the older partners expected would emerge from a group of candidates. An ex-firm attorney told theMiami Review these candidates were "all Mel and Larry's favorites," and went on to state that the senior partners "cultivate people as their favorites. In exchange, those people provide them with information. They become their extra eyes and ears."

Hoffman Succeeds Greenberg in 1991 As CEO

With the onset of a recession, Greenberg Traurig's business suffered in 1990. It was a difficult year on another front as well. In the fall Greenberg underwent brain surgery, and although the operation appeared to be successful, in January 1991 he suddenly quit as chief executive, but only--according to theMiami Review--"after firing a number of lawyers and cutting partners' pay. Then, instead of passing the mantle to the next generation of lawyers the firm had been nurturing for the past several years, the top management job went to Larry Hoffman." There was even some speculation that the firm might break up.

To the surprise of many, Hoffman proved to be an extremely aggressive leader. He immediately announced that the firm would become involved in new practice areas such as admiralty, trade, immigration, labor, and domestic relations, and would open new Florida offices. After opening an office in Fort Lauderdale, in January 1992, the firm acquired the north Florida law firm of Roberts, Baggett, LaFace & Richard, adding 13 lawyers and giving Greenberg Traurig a major presence in Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Hoffman's vision proved to be even more expansive. In little more than a year, Greenberg Traurig not only opened offices in three Florida markets it set up shop in New York City, and a Washington, D.C. office soon followed. Then, in 1995, Hoffmann opened a central Florida operation headed by former U.S. Congressman Jim Bacchus, who had a previous association with Greenberg Traurig in the early 1980s before serving two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The firm's second generation of lawyers would now continue the expansion set in motion by Hoffman. When he stepped down as CEO in 1997--although he remained chairman of the board--the firm had grown to 325 lawyers. His replacement as chief executive was Cesar L. Alvarez, who became the first Hispanic head of a major law firm, a fact that held little value to him. "I view it as a statistical anomaly," he told theNational Law Journalin a 1999 interview. "I don't think anybody ought to be anything because they're Latin or black or Jewish or anything else. I would feel very badly and I would not have taken the job if they gave it to me because I'm Latin." Alvarez was born in Cuba in 1947 and fled the country in 1960 with his family. He was educated at the University of Florida, earning an economics degree in 1969, an M.B.A. in 1970, and a law degree in 1973. He was recruited by Mel Greenberg at a time when only a handful of Cuban-Americans worked at the major Miami law firms. He became lawyer number 13 at Greenberg Traurig, practicing securities, corporate, and international law. From 1981 to 1982 he served as executive vice-president at Air Florida, then resumed his career at Greenberg Traurig. Fifteen years later he was the unanimous choice of the board to lead the firm into the future.

Alvarez's plan was to make Greenberg Traurig an international law firm, as well as continue domestic growth. His first step was to open an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he hoped to take advantage of corporate finance opportunities and build on relationships with lawyers in other Latin American countries to beef up the firm's referral network. The Brazil office, however, would eventually be abandoned, and the firm's Latin American business was folded into the Miami office. Alvarez was also keen on opening a London office, but instead of entering Europe through London, Alvarez for the next five years focused on extending the firm's U.S. reach.

In 1997 Greenberg Traurig added another Florida office, located in Boca Raton, Florida. In May of that year the firm also opened an office in Philadelphia, which started out with just three attorneys. Greenberg Traurig entered the Atlanta market in 1998 by merging with Atlanta-based Katz, Smith & Cohen, a major entertainment law firm whose clients included B.B. King, Willie Nelson, George Strait, and Jimmy Buffett. As a result, Greenberg Traurig gained an office in Atlanta and bolstered its presence in entertainment law, supplementing the New York office's involvement in corporate entertainment and litigation entertainment practices, and the Miami office's Latin America-based entertainment practice. A year later the Atlanta office, with 12 lawyers, would be significantly enlarged, again by way of acquisition. The unit merged with Minkin & Snyder, a deal that added 26 lawyers and the addition of nine new practice groups. Also in 1998, Greenberg Traurig opened an office in Tysons Corner, Virginia, with nine established attorneys hired from area law firms. This office targeted northern Virginia's slate of high tech companies, to serve start-ups as well as emerging and mature companies in the sector.

New Office Openings: 1999

Greenberg Traurig was especially active in 1999. It hired 36 new lawyers to support its Florida offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach, and opened four new offices outside the state. In January the firm opened its first Midwest office, in Chicago, hiring several area lawyers to initially focus on business bankruptcy and commercial litigation. Later in 1999 Greenberg Traurig entered the Boston market by hiring three high-profile, well-connected lawyers from the Boston office of Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott LLC. Next, Greenberg Traurig opened its first office in Phoenix. Rather than cherry-pick on this one, it hired 30 lawyers that had been employed by the 40-year-old firm of O'Connor Cavanaugh, the area's third largest law firm which had broken up several weeks earlier. The new unit specialized in corporate securities, commercial litigation, employment law, financial services, and technology and intellectual property. In September 1999, Greenberg Traurig established a Wilmington, Delaware, office in order to serve clients who appeared in Delaware's important bankruptcy and business courts. Finally, late in 1999 Greenberg Traurig opened an office in Los Angeles by acquiring a pair of small firms: the solo practice of Carol Perrin, who became managing partner, and the ten attorneys of Goldberg, Scott, Belfield, Steinberg & Cohen. It was a move that would lead to much unwanted publicity.

According toAmerican Lawyer, "Greenberg Traurig bungled its entrance onto the Los Angeles stage. For a year, its new office was home to a bitter partnership feud. It was one part human drama and one part farce." The magazine quoted a former shareholder from another Greenberg Traurig office, who maintained that the firm entered "markets too quickly and they don't thoroughly check the quality of the lawyers they're hiring. ... When you do that enough times, it's inevitable that things will go wrong." According to theMiami Herald, "Almost immediately, lawyers and staffers complained to management in Miami that Perrin was abusive and dishonest. ... The most serious accusation was that Perrin delegated work to subordinates, then billed clients at her much higher rate." When Perrin was cleared of these charges by Greenberg Traurig, Los Angeles partner Steven Goldberg quit and then filed suit, alleging that the firm breached its employment contract with him by allowing Perrin to engage in dishonest, unprofessional, and unethical conduct. Perrin maintained that Goldberg, her chief antagonist, was pursuing a vendetta against her because she had spurned his efforts at courting her. (Both lawyers were divorced, lived close to one another, and their children were friends.) After more than a year of turmoil, Greenberg Traurig put the matter behind it by settling Goldberg's suit. Perrin stayed on, although she no longer served as managing partner.

Greenberg Traurig nearly doubled the size of its New York office in 2000. First it picked up 50 attorneys from the office of Graham & James, and a month later, in August 2000, it added 40 more attorneys from the defunct Manhattan firm of Camhy Karlinsky & Stein. As a result, Greenberg Traurig's New York office now housed 220 lawyers, making it one of the 30 largest law firms in the city. In New York size clearly mattered, and picking off lawyers one or two at a time was not a viable strategy in a market undergoing a wave of consolidation among law firms. In particular, the added slate of lawyers helped Greenberg Traurig to beef up its underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and telecommunications practices.

At a time when other firms were forced by difficult economic conditions to cut back, Greenberg Traurig responded by launching another growth spurt in 2002. The Arizona office added high-tech legal expertise by acquiring the law practice of Weinberg Cummerford Legal Group. The firm also opened a new office in Morristown, New Jersey, following its longtime model of cherry-picking local talent. In this case it was Phillip R. Sellinger, a former assistant U.S. Attorney and former chairman of the litigation department at Sills, Cummis, Radis, Tischman, Epstein & Gross. Sellinger became the managing partner, and only attorney, of the new office, but he took with him from Sills Cummis such major clients as Hitachi Data Systems and Toshiba. Also in 2002, Alvarez realized a long-held goal of moving into the European market. Rather than London, which was saturated with corporate law firms, he selected Amsterdam as an entry point. A second office on the continent was opened in Zurich, where the firm hired five attorneys who represented European-based film and television production companies and already had relationships with Greenberg Traurig attorneys in the Los Angeles Office.

Further expansion followed in 2003 and 2004. The firm opened its first office in Dallas in 2003, luring away the 15-attorney unit of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Larson King, which had launched its Dallas effort a year earlier. In 2004 Greenberg Traurig opened two new offices in California, in Irvine and Palo Alto, to become involved in legal work in Silicon Valley. Alvarez considered the time to be right to enter the market. An earlier move, during the superheated days of the tech sector in the late 1990s, would have been too costly. Moreover, rather than open an office right after the tech bubble burst, Alvarez opted to wait until there were signs that the sector was beginning to pick up. It was an important step for Greenberg Traurig, filling in one of the gaps in its aggressive quest to become one of the United States' leading international law firms.

Principal Competitors: Holland & Knight LLP; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.