Defense attorney Reid Weingarten discusses high‑profile federal prosecutions and conflict‑of‑interest concerns

White Collar Titan Reid Weingarten on Juries Clients and the Scariest Federal Prosecutor... Page 2 of 5 Sometimes their reaction is denial, sometimes shock and horror, sometimes anger, but it’s always dramatic. The mission at a minimum is to get the client to understand what’s happening so that he can be effective for me, in terms of my defending him. LD: Have you ever declined to represent someone because you were so appalled by what they did? RW: At this point, I’m in the fortunate position of turning down more cases than | take. | turn down cases for many reasons, though it’s not so much that I’m appalled by the behavior. The way | look at it is, do | bring value? Is there something about me representing the individual that adds something, as opposed to every other lawyer in town? | think if | halted, or | was so shocked or appalled or dismayed by the conduct that I’d pull my punches, |’d know that. | break bread with the would-be client. If there’s a visceral feel, either overtly or covertly, that I’m not going to want to spend time with him or her, it all factors in. There are often a variety of factors that cause me to take seriously the potential of the representation, and then | turn it down. LD: Are conflicts much of an issue? RW: Steptoe & Johnson is a big firm, but it’s not one of the megafirms. There have probably been a dozen significant matters | got conflicted out of because of Steptoe’s other representations. But | have colleagues who work at much bigger firms who are constantly getting conflicted out of representations. | represented the CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Goldman intersects with everyone in the world. If | had nothing but Goldman-like representations, that would be an issue. But if you represent Jesse Jackson Jr. or [other] public officials, as | do, the potential for conflicts is significantly less. LD: What agency is most likely to strike fear in the heart of defendants? RW: The Southern District of New York is the elite prosecutor’s office in the country. | don’t think you’d get much dispute there. They’re aggressive, they’re smart, they have this enormous home court advantage. Right after them, there are several very fine, very aggressive, very talented U.S. attorneys offices like Chicago, Boston, EDVA and certainly the District of Columbia. And you can go to Topeka, Kansas, or Burlington, Vermont, and find a federal prosecutor who is very smart, has a good case and is talented in court. In the Justice Department itself, there’s the Criminal Division, and the two litigating sections—the public integrity section, where | was for 10 years, and the fraud section. They’ve had their ups and downs. As a defense attorney dealing with both sections regularly, you can have your hands full with either. LD: Some of the people you’ve represented have been so high-profile. How much of a challenge is jury selection, and how do you handle it? RW: By way of example, in my most recent trial | went down to New Orleans. | represented the former head of exploration for BP, who was accused of lying to Congress about how http://www litigationdaily.com/printerfriendly/id=1202736534962 9/8/2015 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023103