Lawyers and Jobs in the Government Have a Fleeting Relationship

It's no big secret, but lawyers' jobs in the government seem to be under scanner currently by David Kotz, the inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Apparently, Kotz has stumbled upon the big secret known to the lawyers' employment market for centuries: people in government lawyers' jobs leave to join private practice and consequently difficulties arise in impartial execution of due processes of law. Kotz is reported to have brought the matter to the notice of Sen. Charles Grassley, who is on the Senate Finance Committee.

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While lawyers' careers do take strange turns, it is a well-established pattern that people in government attorney jobs will leave for any good corporate lawyer job they can find, as these are among the most lucrative jobs for lawyers, while on the other hand, government lawyers' jobs remain among the least-paying.

According to reports, this momentous discovery was brought along by the query of Senator Grassley as to the fate of two internal investigations pending at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The letter by David Kotz was a response to Senator Grassley's query. In brief, David Kotz's response mentioned of a prominent law firm's ties with the SEC, and the fact of lawyers regularly leaving SEC to join the firm, and that this led to the failure of the Securities and Exchange Commission to take appropriate actions in matters where the said law firm was involved. However, the letter did not specify or mention the name of the law firm, which was under scanner.

Experts are of the opinion that the investigation by Kotz relates to the two years' ''cooling off'' periods that people in government lawyers' jobs are required to observe, whenever leaving the government to join private practice. The said requirements, among others, are included in 18 U.S.C Sec. 207.

The first condition related to ''cooling off'' periods states that senior government officials will have to wait for a period of two years before they can appear before a government agency to represent a client. The second of the ''cooling off'' periods, which also extends to two years, prevents a lawyer from being involved in a matter in which he or she had acted in supervisory capacity while in the government.

However, this stipulation does not cover providing general guidance or advice, and effectively a lawyer who had helped to draft a rule, regulation, or law could start providing advice on the same from the capacity of a private lawyer by leaving the government.

Expectedly, the best guides on interpreting any law would be the people who helped to draft it, and government lawyers who were part of the process of drafting laws and regulations always have a place with the private sector. Since the private sector is also much more accommodating where questions of remuneration is concerned, it's no great surprise then that the government jobs and specialist lawyers continue to have only a fleeting relationship.


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