Big Salaries May Await Top Government Lawyers
High-profile lawyers exiting the government could command salaries as high as $2 million or $3 million.
That could be the take for top lawyers such as Solicitor General Paul Clement and Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, Legal Times reports.
Law firms snagging the big-name government lawyers are hoping their fame will help attract clients. William Perlstein, co-managing partner of Wilmer Cutler, admitted there are no guarantees. “To some degree, you’re making an educated, intuitive guess,” he told Legal Times.
Already a “cavalcade of stars” have left government legal positions, the story says. They include Justice Department lawyers Paul McNulty, the former deputy attorney general who joined Baker & McKenzie; Rachel Brand of the Office of Legal Policy, who went to Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; and Acting Attorney General Peter Keisler, who moved to Sidley Austin. Another high-profile lawyer who recently left her job was Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Majoras, who became general counsel at Procter & Gamble.
Keisler is one of three government lawyers who joined Sidley. Others include Richard Klingler, general counsel for the National Security Council, and Roger Martella Jr., general counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency. The firm has several former lawyers who are still in government positions who may be considering a return there.
Sheldon Bradshaw, who served as chief counsel for the Food and Drug Administration before joining Hunton & Williams in October, told Legal Times it’s taking time for him to get used to the idea of drumming up clients. “It’s been a bit of a transition in part because I’m a bit of a law geek,” he said.
