Covington & Burling
Encyclopedia
Covington & Burling LLP is an international law firm with offices in Beijing
, Brussels
, London
, New York
, San Francisco, Silicon Valley
, San Diego, and Washington, DC. The firm advises multinational corporations on significant transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy
matters. Covington & Burling LLP consistently ranks among the top 20 on The American Lawyer
’s "A-List", based on financial performance, pro bono activity, associate satisfaction, and diversity. The firm has an overall prestige ranking of 9 by Vault.
founded Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, on January 1, 1919.
In 1988, Covington opened a London office, followed by a Brussels office in 1990. In 1999, Covington merged with a 60-lawyer New York firm called Howard, Smith & Levin and also opened its first West Coast
office in San Francisco. In 2008, Covington entered into a strategic alliance with Institution Quraysh for Law & Policy
(iQ), a Qatar-based transnational law firm and think-tank, for the joint provision of legal and consulting services in the Middle East
. As of mid-2009, both firms share the same London office premises.
, Bunge, Deere & Company
, Eastman Kodak Company, Eli Lilly
, General Electric Company, Giorgio Armani
, IBM Corporation, Harley-Davidson
, match.com
, Microsoft Corporation, Morgan Stanley
, NASCAR
, National Basketball Association
, National Football League
, Procter & Gamble
, and Verizon.
, Creekstone Farms Quality Beef, Southern Peru Copper Corporation, Philip Morris
, Halliburton
, and Xe Services
.
reported: "Creekstone Farms Quality Beef, which has been battling the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get permission to test its cattle
for mad cow disease, has hired Covington & Burling to help it make its case."
At the time, Creekstone was one of two U.S. beef producers who were seeking to resume exports to Japan
, South Korea
and other countries by testing every head of cattle they processed for mad cow disease.
contracts. Covington & Burling was paid $520,000 to handle "inquiries concerning company's construction and service contracts in Iraq,"
the firm said in a filing.
According to the filing, Covington & Burling listed the following people as lobbyists for Halliburton/KBR: Roderick A. DeArment, who was chief of staff to now-retired Sen. Bob Dole
(R-KS); Martin B. Gold, former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
(R-TN); Stuart E. Eizenstat, U.S. ambassador to the European Union
during the Clinton administration; Alan A. Pemberton, coordinator of the firm's government contracts practice; David M. Marchick
, who served in various posts in the Clinton administration; Jack L. Schenendorf; Peter Flanagan; Jennifer Plitsch; Benjamin J. Razi; and Allegra Lane.
Halliburton's lobbying expenses are disclosed in documents submitted under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995
, which requires congressional and executive branch lobbyists to disclose their lobbying activities twice per year. Each year the information is disclosed at the Senate Office of Public Records.
group of companies, according to a 1993 internal budget review document which indicated the firm was paid $280,000 to "serve as general counsel to the Consumer Products Company Tort Coalition, agree the legal objectives with member company litigators, draft legislation and amendments, prepare lobby papers and testimony for legislative committees and administer the coalition's budget".
During the $280 billion U.S. federal lawsuit against big tobacco
, Covington & Burling partner John Rupp, a former lawyer with the industry-funded Tobacco Institute
, testified that "the industry sought out scientists and paid them to make an 'objective appraisal' of whether secondhand smoke was harmful to non-smokers, a move they hoped would dispel the 'extreme views' of some anti-smoking activists." He "said the scientists, who came from prestigious institutions such as Georgetown University
and the University of Massachusetts
, did not consider themselves to be working 'on behalf' of cigarette makers even though they were being paid by the industry." Rupp said, "We were paying them to share their views in forums where they would be usefully presented," according to Reuters
.
. In their release, Covington & Burling decried the "aggressive, expansionist plaintiffs' litigation" under ATCA.
in 2007 defended Chiquita International Brands
against lawsuits brought by relatives of people slain by terrorists and paramilitia belonging to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
, which Chiquita paid for protection. Holder had previously helped Chiquita negotiate a felony plea bargain, accepted by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, in a criminal prosecution by the federal government for one count of supporting a designated terrorist organization. The plea involved a fine of $25 million USD, also entailing 5 years probation. Chiquita became the first major U.S. corporation to be convicted of financing terrorism. After the settlement, U.S. Assistant Attorney Jonathan Malis said the $1.7 million in payments "fueled violence" and "paid for weapons and ammunition to kill innocent people." Holder stressed that Chiquita had asked the Department of Justice in 2003 if the payments should be stopped.
newspaper reported that Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, hired Covington & Burling to lobby on “government contracts,” according to a lobbying disclosure filing. According to the Hill, "[t]his is the first lobbying contract Blackwater has had since early 2009, when it terminated contracts with several different firms." The lobbying report listed the following Covington personnel engaged by Xe: Stuart Eizenstat, a former Treasury deputy secretary during the Clinton administration; Brian Smith, an ex-Clinton White House aide; former Congressman Michael Barnes (D-Md.); Martin Gold, a former floor adviser to ex-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.); and William Wichterman, a former White House aide in the George W. Bush administration.
work focuses on providing legal services to economically disadvantaged individuals and families in local communities. Attorneys at the firm participate in a six-month rotation program and work at each of three DC-based legal service organizations: Neighborhood Legal Services Program, the Children’s Law Center and Bread for the City
.
Covington's pro bono work includes representation in such landmark cases as Buckley v. Valeo
, Griffin v. Illinoishttp://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=351&page=12, and Korematsu v. United States
. However, the firm's pro bono program encompasses a range of areas, including freedom of expression and religion; civil rights
and civil liberties
; gay rights; family law
; education
; landlord/tenant; homelessness
; employment
; criminal and court-appointed cases; police misconduct
; environmental law
; fairness in government procurements and grants; intellectual property
; non-profit incorporation and tax.
The firm’s recent pro bono matters include:
for Ahmed al-Ghailani fifteen Yemenis, one Pakistani, and one Algerian being held at Guantanamo Bay
. The firm obtained favorable rulings that detainees have rights under the Fifth Amendment
and the Geneva Conventions
. The court ruled in March 2005 that the government could not transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to foreign custody without first giving the prisoners a chance to challenge the move in court.
According to The American Lawyer's annual pro bono survey, Covington lawyers spent 3,022 hours on Guantánamo litigation in 2007, "the firm's largest pro bono project that year". Lawyers from the firm who have become administration officials have been advised by ethics officials to recuse themselves in matters involving detainees represented by their former firms, but not from policy issues where they were not personally and substantially involved. Lanny Breuer is one of those who has had to recuse on from some matters since leaving the firm for a government position. Covington also co-authored one of three petitioners' briefs filed in Boumediene v. Bush
, "and was responsible for several detainee victories" in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. "At least one high-ranking appointee played a key role in advancing detainees' rights," but they did not participate in litigation over the Guantanamo Bay prison itself.
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, San Francisco, Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
, San Diego, and Washington, DC. The firm advises multinational corporations on significant transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
matters. Covington & Burling LLP consistently ranks among the top 20 on The American Lawyer
The American Lawyer
The American Lawyer is a monthly law magazine published by ALM. It was founded in 1979 by Steven Brill. Features include the annual AmLaw 100 Survey and AmLaw 200 Survey , "The View From the Top", their annual poll of law firm chairpersons, and their "Corporate Scorecard"...
’s "A-List", based on financial performance, pro bono activity, associate satisfaction, and diversity. The firm has an overall prestige ranking of 9 by Vault.
Accolades and Rankings
According to Vault's 2012 law firm rankings, Covington & Burling is the #2 most prestigious law firm in Washington, D.C., the #10 most prestigious law firm in the United States, and the #6 most selective law firm in the United States http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/companies/rankings?companyId=384. The firm has appeared on The American Lawyers "A-List" consecutively for the past three years http://www.cov.com/honorsrankings/. The firm was also ranked #2 (tie) on the 2007 Schiltz 100, a ranking that inversely correlates profits per partner and firm prestige http://www.averyindex.com/2007_schiltz.php.History
Judge J. Harry Covington and Edward B. BurlingEdward B. Burling
Edward Burnham Burling was a prominent American lawyer and the name partner of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Covington & Burling. He grew up in Eldora, Iowa and worked in a grocery store at age eleven, and went on to Grinnell College and then to Harvard Law School...
founded Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, on January 1, 1919.
In 1988, Covington opened a London office, followed by a Brussels office in 1990. In 1999, Covington merged with a 60-lawyer New York firm called Howard, Smith & Levin and also opened its first West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
office in San Francisco. In 2008, Covington entered into a strategic alliance with Institution Quraysh for Law & Policy
Institution Quraysh for Law & Policy
Institution Quraysh for Law & Policy, also known as iQ, is a transnational law firm, and think-tank with offices in Doha, Jeddah, and London. The institution's primary area of focus is the Arab World, in particular the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council...
(iQ), a Qatar-based transnational law firm and think-tank, for the joint provision of legal and consulting services in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. As of mid-2009, both firms share the same London office premises.
Layoffs
Unlike many firms, there is no evidence that Covington has laid off any associates in response to the economic recession.Major Companies
Major companies that have been represented by attorneys of the firm include: Bank of AmericaBank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
, Bunge, Deere & Company
Deere & Company
Deere & Company, usually known by its brand name John Deere , is an American corporation based in Moline, Illinois, and the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the world. In 2010, it was listed as 107th in the Fortune 500 ranking...
, Eastman Kodak Company, Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...
, General Electric Company, Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani S.p.A.
Marissa Sandoval S.P.A. is an international Italian fashion house that designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, eyewear, cosmetics, and home interiors...
, IBM Corporation, Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
, match.com
Match.com
Match.com is an online dating company which reportedly has more than 20 million members, made up of a 49/51 male/female ratio, and Web sites serving 25 countries in more than 8 different languages. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas and the company also has offices in West Hollywood, Tokyo, Rio,...
, Microsoft Corporation, Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
, NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
, National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
, National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
, and Verizon.
Controversial Clients
Controversial clients of the firm include: Office Chérifien des PhosphatesOffice Cherifien des Phosphates
Office Chérifien des Phosphates is the national Moroccan phosphates company. It is the world's biggest exporter of phosphates and derivatives. The company is solely responsible for the production and sale of Moroccan phosphate resources, mined at the Benguérir, Khouribga, Youssoufia mines in...
, Creekstone Farms Quality Beef, Southern Peru Copper Corporation, Philip Morris
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...
, Halliburton
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....
, and Xe Services
Blackwater Worldwide
Xe Services LLC, better known by its former names, Blackwater USA and Blackwater Worldwide, is a private military company founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark.. Xe is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors...
.
Creekstone Farms Quality Beef
In April 2004, the Washington DC newspaper The HillThe Hill (newspaper)
The Hill, a subsidiary of News Communications Inc., is a newspaper published in Washington, D.C. since 1994.Its first editor was Martin Tolchin, a veteran correspondent in the Washington bureau of The New York Times....
reported: "Creekstone Farms Quality Beef, which has been battling the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get permission to test its cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
for mad cow disease, has hired Covington & Burling to help it make its case."
At the time, Creekstone was one of two U.S. beef producers who were seeking to resume exports to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and other countries by testing every head of cattle they processed for mad cow disease.
Halliburton
In 2003 Halliburton hired the firm to lobby Washington on behalf of its KBR Government Operations division, the same division being pummeled by the media, the Pentagon and Congress for its handling of IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
contracts. Covington & Burling was paid $520,000 to handle "inquiries concerning company's construction and service contracts in Iraq,"
the firm said in a filing.
According to the filing, Covington & Burling listed the following people as lobbyists for Halliburton/KBR: Roderick A. DeArment, who was chief of staff to now-retired Sen. Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
(R-KS); Martin B. Gold, former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
Bill Frist
William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...
(R-TN); Stuart E. Eizenstat, U.S. ambassador to the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
during the Clinton administration; Alan A. Pemberton, coordinator of the firm's government contracts practice; David M. Marchick
David Marchick
David M. Marchick was the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and director of intergovernmental affairs in the Office of the United States Trade Representative during the Clinton Administration. While working under Clinton, he helped to coordinate the passage of the North American Free Trade...
, who served in various posts in the Clinton administration; Jack L. Schenendorf; Peter Flanagan; Jennifer Plitsch; Benjamin J. Razi; and Allegra Lane.
Halliburton's lobbying expenses are disclosed in documents submitted under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995
The Lobbying and Disclosure Act of 1995 was legislation aimed at bringing a level of accountability to federal lobbying practices in the United States. The law was amended substantially by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007...
, which requires congressional and executive branch lobbyists to disclose their lobbying activities twice per year. Each year the information is disclosed at the Senate Office of Public Records.
Phillip Morris
Covington & Burling also served as corporate affairs consultants to the Philip MorrisAltria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...
group of companies, according to a 1993 internal budget review document which indicated the firm was paid $280,000 to "serve as general counsel to the Consumer Products Company Tort Coalition, agree the legal objectives with member company litigators, draft legislation and amendments, prepare lobby papers and testimony for legislative committees and administer the coalition's budget".
During the $280 billion U.S. federal lawsuit against big tobacco
Big Tobacco
Big Tobacco is a pejorative term often applied to the tobacco industry in general, or more particularly to the "big three" tobacco corporations in the United States: Philip Morris , Reynolds American and Lorillard...
, Covington & Burling partner John Rupp, a former lawyer with the industry-funded Tobacco Institute
Tobacco Institute
The Tobacco Institute, Inc. was a United States tobacco industry trade group, founded in 1958 by the American tobacco industry.It was dissolved in 1998 as part of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.-Founding:...
, testified that "the industry sought out scientists and paid them to make an 'objective appraisal' of whether secondhand smoke was harmful to non-smokers, a move they hoped would dispel the 'extreme views' of some anti-smoking activists." He "said the scientists, who came from prestigious institutions such as Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
and the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
, did not consider themselves to be working 'on behalf' of cigarette makers even though they were being paid by the industry." Rupp said, "We were paying them to share their views in forums where they would be usefully presented," according to Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
.
Southern Peru Copper Corporation
According to a September 2003 press release from the firm, Covington & Burling successfully argued on behalf of the Southern Peru Copper Corporation to drop a lawsuit brought against it under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) by Peruvian citizens charging the copper company with polluting communities and causing health problems. ATCA has been used to address serious human rights violations in places like Burma and East TimorEast Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
. In their release, Covington & Burling decried the "aggressive, expansionist plaintiffs' litigation" under ATCA.
Chiquita International Brands
Partner Eric HolderEric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
in 2007 defended Chiquita International Brands
Chiquita
Chiquita can refer to:*Chiquita Brands International, a large produce company*Rio Chiquita, a river in Táchira, Venezuela*Chiquita , a song by Sam H. Stept*Chiquita , a book about the life of Cuban dwarf dancer and singer Espiridiona Cenda...
against lawsuits brought by relatives of people slain by terrorists and paramilitia belonging to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia was created as an umbrella organization of regional far-right...
, which Chiquita paid for protection. Holder had previously helped Chiquita negotiate a felony plea bargain, accepted by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, in a criminal prosecution by the federal government for one count of supporting a designated terrorist organization. The plea involved a fine of $25 million USD, also entailing 5 years probation. Chiquita became the first major U.S. corporation to be convicted of financing terrorism. After the settlement, U.S. Assistant Attorney Jonathan Malis said the $1.7 million in payments "fueled violence" and "paid for weapons and ammunition to kill innocent people." Holder stressed that Chiquita had asked the Department of Justice in 2003 if the payments should be stopped.
Xe Services (formerly Blackwater Worldwide)
In April 2010, The HillThe Hill (newspaper)
The Hill, a subsidiary of News Communications Inc., is a newspaper published in Washington, D.C. since 1994.Its first editor was Martin Tolchin, a veteran correspondent in the Washington bureau of The New York Times....
newspaper reported that Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, hired Covington & Burling to lobby on “government contracts,” according to a lobbying disclosure filing. According to the Hill, "[t]his is the first lobbying contract Blackwater has had since early 2009, when it terminated contracts with several different firms." The lobbying report listed the following Covington personnel engaged by Xe: Stuart Eizenstat, a former Treasury deputy secretary during the Clinton administration; Brian Smith, an ex-Clinton White House aide; former Congressman Michael Barnes (D-Md.); Martin Gold, a former floor adviser to ex-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.); and William Wichterman, a former White House aide in the George W. Bush administration.
Pro bono
Covington’s pro bonoPro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
work focuses on providing legal services to economically disadvantaged individuals and families in local communities. Attorneys at the firm participate in a six-month rotation program and work at each of three DC-based legal service organizations: Neighborhood Legal Services Program, the Children’s Law Center and Bread for the City
Bread for the City
Bread for the City is a comprehensive front line agency serving the poor of Washington, D.C., USA. The agency began as two organizations; Zacchaeus Free Clinic, which began in 1974 as a volunteer-run free medical clinic, and Bread for the City, a project by a coalition of downtown DC churches...
.
Covington's pro bono work includes representation in such landmark cases as Buckley v. Valeo
Buckley v. Valeo
Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law...
, Griffin v. Illinoishttp://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=351&page=12, and Korematsu v. United States
Korematsu v. United States
Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II....
. However, the firm's pro bono program encompasses a range of areas, including freedom of expression and religion; civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
; gay rights; family law
Family law
Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...
; education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
; landlord/tenant; homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
; employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
; criminal and court-appointed cases; police misconduct
Police misconduct
Police misconduct refers to inappropriate actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Police misconduct can lead to a miscarriage of justice and sometimes involves discrimination...
; environmental law
Environmental law
Environmental law is a complex and interlocking body of treaties, conventions, statutes, regulations, and common law that operates to regulate the interaction of humanity and the natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing the impacts of human activity...
; fairness in government procurements and grants; intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
; non-profit incorporation and tax.
The firm’s recent pro bono matters include:
- Preparing an amicus brief on behalf of a number of social scientists in the Cook v. Rumsfeld case challenging the military’s don't ask, don't tell policy
- Filing an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in support of the Planned ParenthoodPlanned ParenthoodPlanned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
challenge of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban ActPartial-Birth Abortion Ban ActThe Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is a United States law prohibiting a form of late-term abortion that the Act calls "partial-birth abortion", often referred to in medical literature as intact dilation and extraction...
of 2003
- Supporting the District of Columbia in District of Columbia v. HellerDistrict of Columbia v. HellerDistrict of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 , was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes in federal enclaves, such as...
which argues that the District's ban on the possession of handguns and its storage provisions for other firearms in the home is not implicated by the Second AmendmentSecond Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
- Primary pro bono counsel for TeachAIDSTeachAIDSTeachAIDS is a nonprofit organization that develops HIV prevention education technology materials, based on an approach invented through research at Stanford University.The TeachAIDS software has been cited as a model health intervention...
, a nonprofit which has developed a new method for global HIV/AIDS prevention education
Representation of Guantanamo Bay inmates
Attorneys at Covington & Burling have been Guantanamo Bay attorneysGuantanamo Bay attorneys
The Center for Constitutional Rights has coordinated efforts by American lawyers to handle the habeas corpus, and other legal appeals, of several hundred of the Guantanamo detainees....
for Ahmed al-Ghailani fifteen Yemenis, one Pakistani, and one Algerian being held at Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
. The firm obtained favorable rulings that detainees have rights under the Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
and the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
. The court ruled in March 2005 that the government could not transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to foreign custody without first giving the prisoners a chance to challenge the move in court.
According to The American Lawyer's annual pro bono survey, Covington lawyers spent 3,022 hours on Guantánamo litigation in 2007, "the firm's largest pro bono project that year". Lawyers from the firm who have become administration officials have been advised by ethics officials to recuse themselves in matters involving detainees represented by their former firms, but not from policy issues where they were not personally and substantially involved. Lanny Breuer is one of those who has had to recuse on from some matters since leaving the firm for a government position. Covington also co-authored one of three petitioners' briefs filed in Boumediene v. Bush
Boumediene v. Bush
Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723 , was a writ of habeas corpus submission made in a civilian court of the United States on behalf of Lakhdar Boumediene, a naturalized citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, held in military detention by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba...
, "and was responsible for several detainee victories" in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. "At least one high-ranking appointee played a key role in advancing detainees' rights," but they did not participate in litigation over the Guantanamo Bay prison itself.
Pro bono accolades
- The American Lawyer "Pro Bono Report", ranked No. 1 in its annual Pro Bono Survey (2006).
- The American Lawyer "Pro Bono Report", ranked No. 1 seven out of the last 12 years.
- DC Bar Association, Thurgood Marshall Award for commitment to excellence in the fields of civil rights and individual liberties (2006).http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/washington_lawyer/june_2006/legalbeat.cfm
- Human Rights CampaignHuman Rights CampaignThe Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
, "Ally for Justice" award for providing outstanding legal guidance to the HRC (2006).
Current and former attorneys
- Dean AchesonDean AchesonDean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War...
- Peter Bogaert
- John R. BoltonJohn R. BoltonJohn Robert Bolton is an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican presidential administrations. He served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2005 until December 2006 on a recess appointment...
- Kit BondKit BondChristopher Samuel "Kit" Bond is a former United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he defeated Democrat Harriett Woods by a margin of 53%-47%. He was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004...
- Michael BoudinMichael BoudinMichael Boudin is a Judge and former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.Boudin was born in New York City, the son of the civil liberties attorney Leonard Boudin and older brother of Weather Underground member Kathy Boudin. He received a B.A. from Harvard...
- Bobby Burchfield
- Edward B. BurlingEdward B. BurlingEdward Burnham Burling was a prominent American lawyer and the name partner of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Covington & Burling. He grew up in Eldora, Iowa and worked in a grocery store at age eleven, and went on to Grinnell College and then to Harvard Law School...
- Abram ChayesAbram ChayesAbram Chayes was an American scholar of international law closely associated with the administration of John F. Kennedy. He is best known for his “legal process” approach to international law, which attempted to provide a new, less formalistic way of understanding international law and how it...
- Michael ChertoffMichael ChertoffMichael Chertoff was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as assistant U.S. Attorney...
- W. Graham Claytor, Jr.
- J. Harry Covington
- Joan DonoghueJoan DonoghueJoan E. Donoghue is an American jurist, currently serving as a Judge on the International Court of Justice, having been elected to that post in 2010...
- Stuart E. EizenstatStuart E. EizenstatStuart Eizenstat is a partner at Washington, D.C. law firm, Covington & Burling and senior strategist at APCO Worldwide. He is married to Frances Eizenstat, and has two sons and six grandchildren....
- Adrian S. FisherAdrian S. FisherAdrian Sanford Fisher was an American lawyer and federal public servant, who served from the late 1930s through the early 1980s. He was associated with the Department of War and Department of State throughout his professional career. He participated in the U.S...
- Roger Fisher
- Jack L. Goldsmith
- Timothy C. Hester
- Donald HissDonald Hiss-Biography:Donald Hiss was born on December 15, 1906, in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and the Harvard Law School....
- Eric HolderEric HolderEric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
- Nicholas JohnsonNicholas JohnsonNicholas Johnson is best known for his controversial term as a dissenting Federal Communications Commission commissioner, 1966-1973, and his book, How to Talk Back to Your Television Set...
- Michael KarlanMichael KarlanMichael Karlan is a party planner and founder and president of Professionals in the City. Professionals in the City is a social and networking group with more than 200,000 members and that hosts more than 1,000 events a year....
- Richard F. Kingham
- Harold Hongju KohHarold Hongju KohHarold Hongju Koh is an Korean American lawyer and legal scholar. He currently serves as the Legal Adviser of the Department of State. He was nominated to his current position by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2009, and confirmed by the Senate on June 25, 2009.In public service, Koh...
- Eugene LudwigEugene LudwigEugene A. "Gene" Ludwig is an American business leader and expert on banking regulation, risk management, and fiscal policy. He is the Founder and CEO of Promontory Financial Group, a global financial services advisory firm...
- Burke MarshallBurke MarshallBurke Marshall was an American lawyer and head of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice during the Civil Rights Era.-Early years:...
- David E. McGiffertDavid E. McGiffertDavid E. McGiffert was a United States lawyer and Pentagon official who dealt with domestic security during the social upheavals of the late 1960s.-Biography:...
- Alfred H. MosesAlfred H. MosesAlfred H. Moses is an American attorney and diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Romania.Alfred Moses was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating from Baltimore City College , he attended Dartmouth College from which he received his B.A. degree in 1951...
- Dawn Clark NetschDawn Clark NetschDawn Clark Netsch is an Illinois professor of law and politician. A member of the Democratic Party in the United States, she served in the Illinois State Senate, as Illinois Comptroller and in 1994 was the first woman to be nominated by a major political party to run for Governor of...
- David Remes
- Clayton R. Roush
- Chuck Ruff
- Cameron StracherCameron StracherCameron Stracher is a writer, law professor, and media lawyer. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and teaches at New York Law School. After graduating from Harvard, he worked for one year at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., and then moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where he...
- Paul TagliabuePaul TagliabuePaul John Tagliabue is a former Commissioner of the National Football League. He took the position in 1989 and was succeeded by Roger Goodell, who was elected to the position on August 8, 2006. Tagliabue's retirement took effect on September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL...
- Paul WarnkePaul WarnkePaul Culliton Warnke was a United States diplomat.He was born in Webster, Massachusetts but spent most of his childhood in Marlborough, Massachusetts, where his father managed a shoe factory. He attended Yale University, fought in World War II for five years in the United States Coast Guard, and...
- Togo D. West, Jr.Togo D. West, Jr.Togo Dennis West, Jr. is an American attorney and public official who was the third person to occupy the post of Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton on January 27, 1998, during Clinton's second term, and was confirmed by the Senate on May 5, 1998. He had...
- Robert Eric WoneMurder of Robert Eric WoneRobert Eric Wone was murdered in Washington, D.C. in August 2006. The case remains unsolved. Wone's body was found in the home of a college friend. Wone, who was 32 years old at the time, was a lawyer living in suburban Oakton, Virginia, but had been working as general counsel at Radio Free Asia in...
External links
- Covington & Burling LLP Website
- Chambers Global Profile
- Vault Profile
- Neighborhood Legal Services Program
- Children's Law Center
- Bread for the City
- Human Rights Campaign
- Senate Office of Public Records
- Peter Kaplan, "Tobacco Lawyer Denies Deception on Secondhand Smoke
- Philip Morris, "Corporate Affairs: corporate cost review
- The Bottom Line,The Hill, May 4, 2004,"
- LawPeriscope Profile