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December 20, 2001
Kenneth
Roth
A
Letter to Rumsfeld on
Military Tribunals
William Blum
Casualties:
Theirs and Ours
December 19, 2001
Marjorie
Cohn
Don't
Pre-Judge John Walker
Sam Bahour
Palestine
and You
December 18, 2001
Shahid
Alam
Clash
of Civilizations?
Carl Estabrook
Who
Opposes This War?
December 17, 2001
Edward
Said
Mahfouz
and the Cruelty
of Memory
December 16, 2001
Amira Howeidy
Dangerous By
Definition?
Bahour
and Dahan
Zinni's
Doomed Mission
December 15, 2001
John Isaacs
Bush's 12
Lumps of Coal
for Christmas
Dana Cook
The
Execution of bin Laden
Yusuf Agha
Tale of the
Tape:
Osama Gump?
December 14, 2001
Don Atapattu
A Conversation with
Norman
Finkelstein
December 13, 2001
Trojanow and Hoskote:
Nonsense
Mantras of Our Times
Dr. A.
Tajudeen
Afghanistan
and Zaire
Michael Williams
Prohibit
Prohibition
December 12, 2001
Jack McCarthy
Hitchens,
Walker
and Osama's Tape
Laura W. Murphy
Ashcroft's
Jihad
Shahid
Alam
Race
and Visibility
December 11, 2001
Joshua Orton
University
of Wisconsin
Won't Aid FBI Interviews
Philip
Farruggio
Cleansing
the Nation's Soul
Robert Fisk
Why I Was
Beaten
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
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bin Laden and Bush
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Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
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CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
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by James Ridgeway
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The
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December 20,
2001
Foundation Without Representation?
Some
law firms are wary of taking clients accused of terrorist ties
By Miriam Rozen
Texas
Lawyer
In the days since the FBI secured the premises
of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development's headquarters
in Richardson, Texas, the subject of who will represent the nation's
largest Muslim charity has prompted an uncustomary level of consternation
and soul-searching among lawyers.
"I'm not gonna do that," Mark
Werbner, a prominent white-collar criminal defense lawyer, says
when asked about his name appearing on a short-list of prospective
counsel that had been given to HLF leaders. "I guess I'd
be open-minded. But I'm a strong supporter of Israel. I've visited
15 times. I speak Hebrew fluently. I don't think it would be
a good fit. That is not to say that I wouldn't take an unpopular
cause," says Werbner, a partner in the Dallas firm of Sayles,
Lidji & Werbner.
HLF leaders began approaching white-collar
criminal defense lawyers earlier this month when their organization's
assets were frozen by the U.S. Treasury and President George
W. Bush. On Dec. 4, Bush stood in the Rose Garden and accused
the foundation of aiding and abetting Hamas terrorists in Israel
-- allegations HLF vehemently denies.
Initially, an Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer
& Feld attorney stood alongside a foundation spokesman and
reiterated HLF leaders' assertions that the group supports only
humanitarian efforts.
But by Dec. 5, George Salem -- a partner
in the firm's Washington, D.C., office who initially had established
Akin Gump's client relationship with HLF -- had told his partners
he wanted to curtail ties with HLF.
Salem, a former solicitor of the U.S.
Department of Labor from 1985 to 1989, told his partners at the
Dallas-based 1,024-lawyer firm that he didn't want to represent
HLF in further matters. Salem has served as president of the
National Association of Arab-Americans and as chairman of the
Arab-American Leadership Council.
Akin Gump will continue, Salem says,
to serve as the attorney of record for HLF in Boim v. Quranic
Literacy Institute, et al., which is pending in the 7th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs -- family members of
a murdered Israeli settler -- allege that a number of organizations,
including HLF, sponsored terrorists. The groups deny the allegations.
But the Akin Gump partners have decided not to represent HLF
in any litigation related to the frozen assets, Salem says.
He says the firm represented HLF primarily
on the 7th Circuit case but also on other matters from time to
time, generally answering subpoenas issued by state agencies.
"We do not discuss our reasons for
accepting or declining to represent or be engaged by our current
or prospective clients," Salem says when asked about why
Akin Gump has limited its relationship with HLF. He notes that
the firm does not want to disadvantage HLF in its case with the
government in any way.
Salem declines to comment on whether
Akin Gump has recommended alternative counsel to HLF leaders
or to confirm specific names of lawyers who may have been queried.
BUSINESS LOST?
Arch C. McColl III, a founding partner
in Dallas-based McColl & McColloch and a white-collar criminal
defense lawyer, says, "It's all a business decision. Firms
will lose business if they represent an organization that the
president says is aiding and abetting Hamas."
McColl may speak from experience. He
represents InfoCom Corp., a Richardson-based company with a director
who also serves on the HLF's board. Earlier this year, the U.S.
Treasury also froze InfoCom's assets and alleged that the company
had sponsored terrorism. Company officials deny the allegations.
"I cannot comment on that,"
McColl says about Akin Gump's decision.
But a moment later, he recalls an entry
in the diary of the nation's second president, John Adams, about
his defense of British soldiers accused of murdering American
colonists in the Boston Massacre of the 1770s. "The British
were hated as much as the Hamas are now," says McColl. Adams'
practice declined because of his decision to represent a group
regarded as the enemy, McColl says.
But McColl contends he is unconcerned
about such consequences because of his ties to the HLF. "I
don't worry about that," he says.
John Bryant, a partner in Dallas' Glast,
Phillips & Murray, represented HLF from 1997 until March
2001. HLF was looking for a larger, national firm, so the group
turned to Akin Gump last spring, while HLF's lawyer, Bryant,
a former Democratic U.S. congressman, lobbied the U.S. State
Department, the Israeli Embassy and the Anti-Defamation League
on HLF's behalf. He says other lawyers gave him flak for representing
HLF, but his law practice has suffered no setbacks.
"They were under constant rhetorical
assault. It continued year after year. I went up there and talked
with the agencies. I said, 'This is a transparent operation.
The Israelis know what they are doing. Why don't you tell us
how you would like this organization to operate?' " Bryant
recalls.
In light of the lack of response he got
back then, Bryant believes the federal government's current actions
are unjustified. The government, having insufficient evidence
to pursue criminal charges against HLF, has instead decided with
the freezing of the foundation's assets that "we're just
gonna shut them down," Bryant says.
"[HLF] has never even been interviewed
by the FBI. The facts have not changed. But the politics have
changed," Bryant says.
Lori Bailey, a spokeswoman for the FBI
in the Dallas office, says the agency doesn't comment on specific
allegations, but she notes she would not specifically refute
Bryant's contention that the bureau never interviewed HLF leaders.
HOT POTATO
Akin Gump's decision and the subsequent
scramble for HLF to find lawyers raise interesting questions.
"We have a long tradition in the
profession of lawyers being obligated to provide representation
to unpopular causes," says Chuck Herring, a legal ethics
expert and partner in Austin's Herring & Irwin. "It
will be interesting to see how many lawyers turn [HLF] down.
It will show how hot a potato they are."
In the HLF representation, Herring says,
Akin Gump and other lawyers are within the bounds of the state
rules.
"This is a decision individual attorneys
have to make. You would expect a firm like Akin Gump to handle
it this way. I'm not surprised. It's a practical situation. We
have a wave of patriotism in this country, and people are acting
different. But to be scared to represent them is to surrender
to terrorism. I'm sure there will be good lawyers who have the
courage and perseverance to come forward," Herring says.
Who will ultimately represent HLF was
far from clear at press time.
Charles Blau, a partner in Dallas' Meadows,
Owens, Collier, Reed, Cousins & Blau, says Akin Gump partners
had begun inquiring about his firm's interest in defending HLF
two weeks ago. But the suggestion sparked fireworks internally
at the white-collar criminal defense boutique.
"There was a great deal of consternation
and discussion. Let's just say it was not universally accepted
as a good idea," Blau says.
The firm ultimately declined to take
on HLF as a client, Blau says. Two other partners at the firm
-- Trey Cousins and David Reed -- decline to comment on the matter.
FOUNDATION'S
PLANS
When asked about the foundation's plans
for hiring counsel, Shrukri Abu Baker, the president of HLF,
responds sarcastically: "We will have Ariel Sharon [the
Likud Party Israeli prime minister] represent us and someone
else from the ADL." Abu Baker then hung up the phone.
For his part, Ghassan Elashi, the chairman
of HLF, insists that Akin Gump still represents HLF in the most
recent developments. "They have been good and fair. We're
working through them to find representation," he says.
Elashi says other lawyers "are lining
up, wishing that they can represent us." Asked to name specific
lawyers, Elashi says, "You will know when the time comes."
Khalid Hamideh, a solo practitioner from
Garland, Texas, who represents HLF in Holy Land Foundation for
Relief and Development v. A.H. Belo Corp., The Dallas Morning
News, et al. -- a defamation suit that the foundation asked a
judge to have nonsuited this week against A.H. Belo Corp. and
The Dallas Morning News -- also contends the list of prospective
defense lawyers for his clients remains long.
"There is no shortage of lawyers
on both sides -- those who are fleeing and those who are dying
for this case," says Hamideh. He says financial resources
will not be a concern for the attorneys who ultimately are hired
to defend HLF. Even though the foundation's assets are frozen,
Hamideh says, "They have a lot of loyal supporters. I don't
think funding will be a problem."
Ultimately, Hamideh says, HLF will hire
"someone who is well known, someone who handled high-profile
cases before."
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