Some Justice Department Lawyers Have Gitmo Conflicts

[Bozita]

Source: Legal Times

Some Justice Department Lawyers Have Gitmo Conflicts
Legal Times
Joe Palazzolo
March 2, 2009


More than a dozen new Justice Department lawyers have come from private firms representing Guantanamo Bay detainees, creating potential conflicts of interest as the agency begins its review of roughly 245 men imprisoned at the military detention center.

The Justice Department has taken steps to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Ethics officials have advised lawyers -- including Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. -- to recuse themselves in matters involving detainees represented by their former firms.

"As a general rule, DOJ officials will not participate in reviews of specific detainees who their firms represented, consistent with ethics rules," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said in an e-mailed statement.

Conflict-of-interest issues are common in new administrations as private attorneys move into government jobs, but Guantanamo poses a singular challenge: About 150 separate law firms, federal public defender offices, law school clinics, and nongovernmental organizations have been involved in detainee litigation. "It's a new illustration of an old issue," says Don Burnett, dean of the University of Idaho College of Law. "What's unusual is the size of the cluster of individuals who are affected.

Read more: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202428688933

[Solly Mack]

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