Saturday, January 5, 2013

Walkergate: All The Governor's Lawyers

While we are not so patiently waiting for John Doe to drop some more shoes, there has been some interesting out-of-court maneuvering going on.

Steve Biskupic, who had been working for Scott Walker's favorite law firm, Michael Best and Friedrich, has been representing Walker's campaign during the Walkergate investigation.  The most recent report, from April of last year, shows that Walker's campaign had already dumped $115,000 for Biskupic's services.  Undoubtedly, the number is much, much higher now.

Well, apparently Biskupic has gotten tired of making other people rich and wants the gravy train all for himself, so he's left the law firm to establish his own.  The article doesn't say whether the Walkergate account will follow Biskupic or stay with the law firm.

But then again, the article also doesn't mention Biskupic's biggest case, where he tried to pull a quick one on Georgia Thompson, who had been framed for corruption.  The conviction was quickly overturned and Biskupic was told that his "evidence is beyond thin."

On the other hand, Biskupic's departure might not necessarily have anything to do with looking for greener pastures.  He is the second big name to leave the law firm in the past six months.  Eric McLeod left the firm last July.  I wonder who was more relieved with McLeod's exit, McLeod or the law firm.  

When you have big names leaving like that, it makes me wonder if they are simply looking to make it big on their own or if they are rats fleeing a sinking ship.

Also in the news is one of Walker's personal attorneys, Michael Steinle.  Steinle made the news for representing another sad sack of a person, the husband of slain Wauwatosa Police Officer Jennifer Sebena, who is accused of stalking and executing his wife.


5 comments:

  1. as far as Steinle, all accused criminals deserve a competent defense attorney. starting from a paradigm that somehow he doesn't is an ugly, slippery slope that is often used to justify the kinds of horrific representation many (poor minority) defendants receive. (and no, I'm not a walker fan, by any means. but you have to have a fair criminal justice system).

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  2. There is a third possibility when big names leave a law firm. They may need to leave in order to avoid a conflict of interest within the firm, if two groups of clients end up on different sides of a legal issue. Sometimes a big name spins off a new firm and takes a group of clients along at the behest of the parent firm, so that the parent firm can continue to represent the other group of clients. It will be interesting to see which client/s Biskupic continues to represent.

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  3. I'll go with Capper's theory that the rats are jumping ship. Theses guys know the DA is now focused on Walker's top County staffers and they can see trouble coming long before the rest of us do.
    The DA gave us a little peak at the evidence he's holding in the recent plea bargains, and Walker's name is all over those emails. The smart suits know that now is the time to get out the way before they get dragged down with what's coming next. It's going to be a very interesting year.

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  4. Perhaps Walker, et. al. now realize that Vos is trying -- haha -- to position himself for a run at the Gov's seat? Remember, Vos's best buddy and college roomie, Reince Priebus, has been fed mega buck billings to handle all Vos's actions (voterID, redistricting, etc.). Both will fail miserably, of course.

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  5. And now you are attacking attorneys for representing criminal defendants?

    Really?

    Have you read the U.S. or Wisconsin Constitutions lately? You know, the highest laws of our land?

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