Strategic Misstep By Libby Defense Team
They should have induced delivery by Baker Botts associate Alexandra Walsh, so she would have popped out her baby girl in the middle of trial, before the jury (and preferably during the strongest part of the government’s case, for maximum distraction value).
Delivering a baby in open court would have created a magnificently dramatic scene. And it would have generated an unbreakable bond between defense counsel and the jurors that would have guaranteed acquittal for Walsh’s client, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. After you’ve watched a woman give birth, can you really send her client to the Big House?
Alas, the Libby defense team took a more conventional route. Alex Walsh didn’t go to court last Friday, reporting instead to a Washington-area hospital, where she delivered a baby girl.
More details about Walsh, from CNN:
Walsh — a 2001 graduate of Stanford Law School — was named by Washingtonian magazine last year as one of the “40 top lawyers under 40.” She has focused on white-collar criminal law and appellate cases.
If you go back to the Washingtonian listing, you learn that Walsh, after graduating from Stanford, “was hired to clerk for appeals-court judge Merrick Garland and then Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer.”
A member of the Elect with an interest in trial work? Impressive!
Congratulations, Alexandra, on the birth of your baby girl!
Verdict: It’s a girl; Libby defense counsel delivers baby [CNN Political Ticker]
40 Lawyers Under 40 [Washingtonian]
(7) Comments
Comments
I bet that baby has a much better chance of getting a job next summer at a BigLaw firm than me.
Hey L2L,
Stop acting my age, and start acting yours.
Wow. I remember her from college. She certainly was not one to defend right wingers then.
Sometimes these exchanges make me laugh.
Sometime they make me cry.
I checked out that "washington top 40 under 40" -- seems like a hugely disproportionate number of them are products of a small number of conservative republicans like charles cooper, ted olson, etc., or products of firms where such conservatives reside (baker & botts, kirkland, the old cooper carvin firm, etc.) ... and/or clerked for conservative feeder judges and/or alito, thomas, scalia, rehnquist.
(also, there are a few "golden boy" conservatives outside DC who fit the same bill -- TX SG ted cruz, for example.)
leads me to wonder ... are top republican lawyers hand-picking and grooming a small number of their next generation to have the perfect resumes for their circuit court appointments? are there elite liberal law firms doing the same thing? (i saw jamie gorelick mentioned several times, but few others, if anyone else.) where are all the top liberal lawyers, the ones who were serving in high positions under clinton? are they at firms? is there a "top 40 liberal stars under 40" that can be developed the same way? are the star liberals who could be rabbis to the young'uns simply too ensconced in academia (e.g. tribe, dellinger, etc.)? where are the top liberal stars hiding? what's the deal? anyone?
Am I the only person who, upon first glance at the picture, thought that was Cynthia Nixon. . .er, Miranda?