Kyle Sampson Lands on His Feet
Of all the characters in the U.S. Attorney firings drama, Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was not our favorite. When he testified on Capitol Hill, he was earnest, sweaty, and decidedly non-fabulous — unlike Monica Goodling, who took the Senate Judiciary Committee by storm with a dazzling performance.
But even though his government service ended inauspiciously, Sampson has done just fine for himself. From the Salt Lake Tribune:
Three Washington lawyers with Utah ties - including the chief of staff to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - are joining the food and drug practice at the firm Hunton & Williams.D. Kyle Sampson, a Cedar City native, was Gonzales’ chief of staff at the Justice Department until he resigned amid a controversy over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, a move that spawned congressional investigations. Sampson, who compiled the list of attorneys who were fired, testified for hours before House and Senate committees in public hearings and private interviews.
Before joining the Justice Department he was an Associate Counsel to the President at the White House, was director of personnel for the Bush administration, and was an aide to Sen. Orrin Hatch on the Judiciary Committee. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University and Chicago University law school.
We wonder if the Mormon Mafia had a hand in his hiring. They are to the legal world what the Gay Mafia is to fashion!
Sampson, ex-aide to Gonzales, joins law firm [Salt Lake Tribune]
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FIRST!!!!!!!!!!
For those of us that thought Sampson deserved punishment, Hunton & Williams will likely fit the bill. My understanding is that place is miserable.
SECOND!!!
LAT, be carefully joking about the Mormon Mafia. You don't know who you are dealing with. We'll get you.
LAT, be carefully joking about the Mormon Mafia. You don't know who you are dealing with. We'll get you.
Why would Sampson deserve punishment?
Chicago University?
Why the hate Lat? Sampson did a great job testifying before congress. Also consider Sampson's credentials:
a. Law Review at University of Chicago
b. clerkship for Federal Circuit of Appeals.
I don't think Sampson needed help from anybody to get a job. Are there even any Mormons at Hunton & Williams in DC?
There are at least three associates and a partner with a BYU undergraduate degree at Hunton. Only one is a partner.
Doubtful he needed their help getting in.
Interesting, Hunton DC is becoming the recipient of several former Bush admin folks lately.
Hunton is far too WASPy to even be on the Mormon Mafia radar. Cali firms, on the other hand... but I've already said to much.
Not surprising. Remember Scully - the Medicare guy who threatened to fire HHS actuaries if they honestly answered congressional requests for information on the true cost of Bush's Medicare drug boondoogle? Alston & Bird "won" a BIDDING WAR over him. He's now at A&B's DC office as a bigwig in the healthcare practice. Crooks usually seem to land upright, welcomed with open arms by BigLaw, which, morally correct mission statements notwithstanding, wink and nod and agree never to speak of the problematic pasts of these movers and shakers.
I am a member of the Mormon Mafia. Although Kyle does not need our help, we are always glad to help out a Mormon attorney. We are taking over, you know.
These guys sound like they will be in a perfect position to capitalize on the nutricutical industry/multi-level marketing industry that seems to spring from the bust of Joseph Smith.
12:27---There are mormons in EVERY lawfirm, in EVERY city. They are wildly and disportionately represented in biglaw.
Chicago State has a law school? If I'd have known that I never would have gone to John Marshall!
Nice job, H&W. He's joining the food and drug practice, despite working for the government since 1999 - and all the government experience he's had (Judiciary Committee, Assoc. Counsel to the President, AG's office) doesn't look like it was in food and drug law. In my firm, even the healthcare and regulatory lawyers won't touch the FDA work - because of its specialized nature.
So, he's either being hired as a junior associate (ha!), or he's hired as an influence peddler to the government.
He looks like George Costanza.
How could biglaw give this guy a partnership? He obviously has no judgment. What would make him think that he, a hack with no prosecutorial experience, could sit in judgment of adult lawyers, i.e., U.S. Attorney’s. Picture this guy in the 80s making a call to dump Giuliani because of Rudy's well-known grandstanding and self-promotion as U.S. Attorney. He'd never become Mayor, and the mob would still run New York and the streets would be the dens of criminals and junkies. I would never hire this hack when I can choose from a host of real lawyers.
As some other posters have suggested, it's pretty poor reporting to butcher U of C's name that badly.
I agree w/ 2:32 pm's assessment above. He's being hired to influence and you can't really blame H&W for adding what will really be their lobbying group.
"Monica Goodling, who took the Senate Judiciary Committee by storm with a dazzling performance"... huh? in what universe did this occur?