William Barr’s Father Allegedly Hired Epstein in the 1970s Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI Assistant Director for counterintelligence said that Barr’s Father, Donald Barr, once hired Epstein to teach at Dalton School, a private academy in New York City.
Court records show Kirkland & Ellis continued to represented Epstein through 2011, while Barr worked at the firm. Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI Assistant Director for counterintelligence said that Barr’s Father, Donald Barr, once hired Epstein to teach at Dalton School, a private academy in New York City.
AG William Barr: "I'm recused from that matter because one of the law firms that represented Epstein long ago was a firm that I subsequently joined for a period of time." pic.twitter.com/hdwqgOlrWD
Topping the list is Alexander Acosta, a former Kirkland litigator and now U.S. labor secretary, who as a Florida federal prosecutor signed off on Epstein’s sweetheart plea deal in 2007 in Florida the last time Epstein faced similar charges. ( American Lawyer)
King & Spalding got back former general counsel of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Stephen P. Vaughn, who also briefly served as acting trade representative. He returns as a partner to the firm’s Washington office, which he had left to join the Trump administration.
A “who’s who” of lawyers, not just from Kirkland, helped Epstein get that Florida deal and will now have to “face the music,” according to this report.
Back in 2007, Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting sex and prostitution with an underaged girl, was sentenced to to 13 months incarceration, but spent a bulk of that time on work release or in the jail’s private wing.
As reported by The New York Times, Donald Barr, who died in 2004, resigned from Dalton in 1974 after disagreements with the executive board. However, he stayed on throughout the rest of the year, which is when Epstein was hired. READ NEXT: Tommy Lee Did Not Actually Write Viral Anti-Trump Rant on Twitter.
There is concern over William Barr’s involvement in Epstein’s case, not only for the way he handled Robert Mueller’s testimony over the Russian probe , but because of his personal ties with Epstein himself.
Back in 1973, even though Epstein had not obtained a college degree, Donald brought Epstein, who was only 20 years old, and had dropped out of both Cooper Union and New York University’s Courant Institute, was brought board to teach calculus and physics. The young teacher appeared to be successful at Dalton.
William Barr’s Father Allegedly Hired Epstein in the 1970s. Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI Assistant Director for counterintelligence said that Barr’s Father, Donald Barr, once hired Epstein to teach at Dalton School, a private academy in New York City.
Kirkland’s mergers & acquisitions practice advises private equity and other corporations seeking to scoop up potential competitors and concentrate entire industries. The firm shepards clients through antitrust challenges from the DOJ Antitrust Division, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and consumers alike. Crucially, Kirkland consistently hires lawyers who once worked at the antitrust enforcement agencies and helped investigate and challenge anti-competitive behavior on behalf of the government to represent these clients in their anti-competitive conduct. The firm’s antitrust practice is quite literally headed by the former assistant director leading the Mergers IV division within the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, Matthew Reilly. In 2019, Kirkland brought on two more FTC staff attorneys.
The Revolving Door Project and People's Parity Project jointly publish the BigLaw Revolving Door report series. This series investigates the US's largest law firms, those firms' corporate clients, and how they seek to influence executive branch policies and actions and the larger field of regulatory law.
Robert Khuzami, a former Kirkland partner, served as director of the SEC’s enforcement division under Obama. After his government stint, Khuzami took a job with one of his former clients—investment bank Guggenheim Partner. After serving as White House Counsel to President Obama from 2014 to 2017, Neil Eggleston joined Kirkland, where he sells his insider knowledge of government to help corporations navigate enforcement matters at DOJ, the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and other enforcement agencies.
Given the firm’s ties to right-wing idealogues and corporate giants, President Biden must not appoint Kirkland attorneys to roles in his administration. Kirkland’s ties to fossil fuel giants undermine Biden’s promise to lead “a clean energy revolution” and its defense of Facebook should be a red flag to an administration looking to crack down on Big Tech. Lawyers who defend large corporations like Boeing and Goldman Sachs have no place in the agencies designed to regulate these companies. Biden must root out the influence of Kirkland alumni at DOJ and across his administration.
The Kirkland lawyer in the latter case, Jeffrey Bossert Clark, wasn’t just a hired gun—has vocally questioned the validity of climate change and his defense of fossil fuel giants landed him a gig as Trump’s Assistant Attorney General for the environment and natural resources. Clark has also represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in suits challenging the federal government’s authority to regulate
Kirkland has a history of employing conservative lawyers that have revolved between the firm and Republican administrations. One 2015 paper analyzing political contributions from lawyers at the industry’s top law firms found that Kirkland was the second-most conservative among them. In 2016, Kirkland acquired the DC law firm Bancroft, which was known for representing right-wing clients before the Supreme Court in controversial cases, including advocating for the Defense Against Marriage Act. Bancroft also represented South Carolina in disputes over its stringent voter ID laws and Arizona in a Supreme Court case regarding its “papers please” immigration law.
When Politico reported that Susan Davies was one of Biden’s top picks to lead the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), progressives were quick to point out her close ties to Big Tech and other corporations regulated by the division. Davies’ prospective appointment put the spotlight on how Kirkland & Ellis has made a business out of influencing the executive branch to the benefit of their corporate clients using several strategies including, significantly, by employing lawyers who regularly revolve in and out of government positions. Primarily a Republican-associated BigLaw firm, Kirkland & Ellis sent several of their lawyers to serve in Trump’s DOJ—including the Attorney General himself, William Barr—where they helped turn the Department into Trump’s personal legal team. But having high-profile Democrats like Davies work for Kirkland provides cover for the firm’s clients that are more hesitant to be associated with a firm so closely tied to the GOP. Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that law firms like Kirkland often seek to hire individuals like Davies simply because attacks on government regulation sound more compelling to a Democratic administration when they come from a fellow Democrat, regardless of their corporate ties.