President Obama has been hiring extensively from BigLaw, as we’ve written on numerous previous occasions.
The trend continues with a number of diplomatic picks, after the jump.
According to the Blog of the Legal Times, there have been at least three ambassadors plucked from BigLaw recently.
Howard Gutman, a partner at Williams & Connolly who bundled at least $500,000 for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, was nominated to be ambassador to Belgium. Gutman also personally gave $4,600 to Obama.
Mark Gitenstein, a partner in Mayer Brown’s D.C. office, is Obama’s pick for ambassador to Romania. Unlike Gutman, Gitenstein did not donate or bundle money for Obama’s campaign. However, he was the early favorite to head the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department, until controversy over his past as a lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce put him out of the running. Gitenstein was also once a Senate staffer for Vice President Joe Biden, and according to the Center for Responsive Politics, he donated $5,000 to Biden’s 2008 presidential bid.
Gutman is not the first Williams & Connolly lawyer to get tapped for a European post. Last month, partner Laurie Fulton, was chosen to become ambassador to Denmark. She bundled as much as $200,000 for Obama.
The White House Press Release announcing the appointments is here. Those bios are still live, but they’ll come down when the appointees assume their posts.
Separately, John Roos, the CEO of Wilson Sonsini, has been tapped for the post in Japan.
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