Legal briefs: Accusations fly over U.S. Chamber of Commerce tactics

One of the groups targeted by the law firm Hunton & Williams in an effort to discredit critics of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made good on its threat to file a disciplinary complaint with the District of Columbia Bar.

Kevin Zeese, an attorney with StopTheChamber.com, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, sent a 14-page letter to the Office of Bar Counsel that accuses Hunton & Williams attorneys John W. Woods, Richard L. Wyatt and Robert T. Quackenboss of hiring contractors to engage in "domestic spying, fraud, forgery, extortion, cyber stalking, defamation, harassment" and other tactics to quell criticism of the firm's client, the Chamber of Commerce. All attorneys practice here in the District.

"It's kind of amazing a firm like Hunton & Williams would talk about violations of cyber law, forgery, blackmail, libel, slander . . . these lawyers need to be appropriately disciplined for that," Zeese said in an interview.

A group of hackers earlier this month published e-mail exchanges between Hunton & Williams attorneys and the California security firm HBGary Federal that revealed a nascent plan to craft a counterintelligence campaign to silence perceived enemies of the chamber, which says it "never hired or solicited proposals" for such work from any of the security firms identified in the exchange.

The District's Office of Bar Counsel, which receives about 1,500 disciplinary complaints each year, does not confirm the existence or status of an inquiry in its initial stages. Once the office receives a complaint, it can dismiss the case, direct the attorney involved to take remedial steps, issue an informal admonishment, negotiate a settlement or bring charges. Of the grievances it examines annually, the office dockets about 500 for investigation and prosecutes about 50 attorneys, according to D.C. Bar Counsel Wallace "Gene" Shipp Jr.

Calls to the Hunton & Williams attorneys were referred to the firm's media representative, who declined to comment on the matter.

Zuckerman Spaeder adds litigation boutique

The Washington firm Zuckerman Spaeder has announced that it has added attorneys from a boutique litigation firm in Baltimore to its offices there, doubling the number of Zuckerman attorneys based in Charm City.

Murphy & Shaffer principals William J. Murphy, Robert T. Shaffer and John J. Connolly are joining Zuckerman Spaeder as partners along with Daniel P. Moylan and Conor B. O'Croinin, who will be associates. All five will be based in Zuckerman's Baltimore office as of Feb. 28.