Rep. Tom Price
Perhaps Dentons has finally grown too big. The global behemoth of a law firm sent a threatening letter to CNN last week, after CNN pointed out that Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price, had purchased shares in an implant company conveniently before introducing legislation that would financially benefit the company.
Then someone performed the conflict check.
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Dentons attorneys J. Randolph Evans and Benjamin P. Keane wrote the original letter to CNN, complaining that CNN had omitted key facts about Price’s investment, and demanded a retraction from CNN — implying that legal action could follow. The omitted facts, mind you, didn’t make Price look any better. In their account, CNN should have noted that Price was working on the policies that would aid his investment for over a year… and that his broker bought the stock as part of a portfolio rebalancing. If we take this story at face value, then someone with a basic sense of ethics would have, at some point during that year, maybe told the broker not to be investing in stocks that would raise obvious red flags and create disquieting conflicts of interest.
No wonder these people wanted to eliminate the independent ethics committee.
Well, it turns out that someone else at Dentons performed a simple conflict check and revealed that Dentons actually does a whole mess of work for CNN, prompting Mike McNamara, Dentons’s U.S. Chief Executive Officer, to write another letter apologizing to CNN.
On behalf of the Firm, we apologize for the letter, which should not have been sent by Dentons given our representation of CNN on other legal matters.
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He should have apologized for the firm concocting a bullying threat in a shameless effort to chill media coverage, but this will have to do.
In any event, the withdrawal is a responsible and professional move on the part of Dentons. If only, say, a certain House member worried as much about conflicts….
Law firm withdraws retraction request to CNN over Price story [Washington Post]
In retraction request to CNN, Trump team confirms CNN story [Washington Post]
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.