Merger Adds to Humane Society's Bite

Verdery and Mehlman said he and the firm had "different visions," but they parted amicably. Verdery said he wants "to build out" his practice to cover homeland security, technology, telecommunications and intellectual property. "It's the American dream to be your own boss," Verdery said.

Mehlman said the firm "encouraged him to take any [clients] he wanted to who wanted him," adding: "Stewart is a smart and capable guy."

Here and There

Also moving about town . . . J. Keith Kennedy and Lance B. Leggitt have signed on with the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz . Kennedy, who's returning to the firm as managing director of the D.C. office, was GOP staff director of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Leggitt, a former member of the president's Domestic Policy Council, joins as chair of the federal health policy group.

The Bockorny Group has signed on Kendall Van Pool in the lobby shop's health-care practice. Van Pool previously was a staff member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

In-House Lobbyist a First for The Post

Closer to home -- actually, at home . . . Washington Post Vice President Patrick Butler has registered to lobby on behalf of the newspaper company. He apparently is The Post's first-ever registered in-house federal lobbyist.

Butler said he registered because he has been "spending a fair amount of time trying to secure passage of a federal shield law to protect the confidentiality of journalists' sources and keep journalists out of jail."

"I'm not sure I've actually reached the 20 percent threshold that would require registration, but we decided to register anyway in an abundance of caution," he said in an e-mail.

Butler said his other duties at The Post involve business development, community service projects and television production.