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Lawyers Celebrate Inaugural With Cash
It is a festive time to be in the nation's capital and law firms are at least partly to thank. Marcia Coyle writes today in The National Law Journal that lawyers and law firms are a major financial force behind the presidential inaugural festivities. "Lawyers and law firms are the second largest contributors thus far, kicking in $2.5 million (175 donations), according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which has analyzed contributions reported in advance of the event. They are second only to the securities/investment industry, which has donated a total of $3.6 million (118 donations)."
Check out Coyle's piece for the names of some of the lawyers who contributed the maximum-allowable donation of $50,000. Meanwhile, at least one firm chose to throw a gala party of its own. Tony Mauro reports at The BLT on Sunday night's reception sponsored by Bingham McCutchen to honor Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree. "It was a star-studded event," Mauro writes, "with luminaries of the black bar and bench mingling and celebrating, not just the career of Ogletree -- some just called him 'Tree' -- but the impending inauguration of Barack Obama."
One other firm tried to stage a more low-key event. Unfortunately, it was not successful, at least not for now. The Washington Post, in an article about Obama's tight rules for inaugural donations and percs, tells what happened to the unnamed D.C. firm:
Some District companies have been stymied by Obama's arm's-length approach. A local law firm asked at least five Obama cabinet nominees to attend a brunch in their honor. All the invitations were declined.
"I was going to do a brunch for them, and they all said, do something for me after my confirmation," said a partner in the firm, who requested anonymity because he did not want to get off on the wrong foot with incoming administration officials. "In the past, companies could write checks to the inauguration committee, make in-kind contributions, and now it's completely flipped."
Do something for me after my confirmation? OK, that's one approach to starting off on the right foot.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on January 20, 2009 at 10:55 AM | Permalink
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