Miers comes back home to Locke Liddell

04/20/07

Miers comes back home to Locke Liddell

Harriet Miers is rejoining Dallas-based Locke Liddell & Sapp, effective May 1. She co-managed the law firm prior to taking up the post of White House counsel in 2001. She will now work in the firm's public policy and litigation groups and will split her time between the Washington, Dallas, and Austin offices.

Miers has a longstanding association with President Bush. She began her career with Bush, as his personal lawyer, when he was the governor of Texas. She assisted him on his mission of cleaning up the Texas Lottery system. Miers served as chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission for six years till 2000. Then, she joined him in Washington as an assistant to the president and staff secretary. Later she climbed higher to become the Chief White House Counsel, a post from where she resigned, this January.

Besides these, Miers was the first female president of both the State Bar of Texas and Dallas Bar Association. She became the first female president in the law firm Locke Purnell Rain Harrell till it merged with another to become Locke Liddell & Sapp. Here she served as co-managing partner of the firm's 400 lawyers in five offices.
Jerry Clements, the firm's managing partner in Austin voiced the firm's enthusiasm in having Miers back in the firm and said "We are thrilled to have Harriet back home." To this, Miers responded "The Locke firm is like family," via phone.

Senate Panel to decide on Gonzales' fate
The Senate Judiciary Committee on the Capitol Hill will decide whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales continues his job or not.

Attorney Gonzales is presently under fire for his alleged involvement in the recent ouster of the U.S. attorneys. Democrats allege that the firings were party politics driven moves. On Thursday, a senate panel heard Gonzales in a daylong hearing. After the February firings, this was the Attorney General's first appearance under oath.

Incidentally, the furor over the expulsions rose when Gonzales' words, together with his White House aides' statements, became inconsistent over time. From complete denial of involvement to accepting responsibility, Gonzales has been shifting stands, prompting the panel to set a date to hear him out. The VaTech shooting incident delayed the hearing for two days.

The Republicans encourage Gonzales to be more assertive in his responses. Meanwhile, the Democrats feel that Gonzales leads the Justice Department with the attitude of a White House counsel, relying on his aides to make such vital decisions. Gonzales, in the meantime, refutes charges by Democrats that some of the firings were done to snuff the ongoing corruption investigations, to help Republicans.

The Senate side of the investigation is being led by the New York Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, who feels it's time to "move forward." One prominent supporter of Gonzales, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, opines that "The sooner it's over, the better." Still others like Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, feel that Gonzales should not be apologetic and be "less gracious in his responses."

BIZARRE NEWS

The donkey has the final say!
A donkey in Dallas, called Buddy, changed the way the whole world looks at donkeys! Buddy stood as witness in a lawsuit between two neighbors- oilman John Cantrell and attorney Gregory Shamoun. The fight began when Cantrell complained about a storage shed that Shamoun was building in his backyard. After Cantrell's initial complaints, Shamoun fetched Buddy from his ranch and put him in his backyard. His grumblings: donkey noise and manure piles! Shamoun, in his defense, said that Buddy was serving as a surrogate mother for a calf that needed to be bottle-fed. As the court proceedings went on, Buddy stood before the jury as a gentle, mannered donkey and not the noisy, aggressive animal that Cantrell portrayed him to be. Buddy waited patiently for justice. Finally, the neighbors settled their dispute. Shamoun agreed to buy some of Cantrell's land and Cantrell agreed to take back his complaint! And Buddy? He will go down in history as the donkey that brought peace between warring neighbors!