[Mb-civic] As a Lawyer, Miers Focused on Policy - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

As a Lawyer, Miers Focused on Policy
Right to Representation Was Key Theme

By John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A06

DALLAS -- In the mid-1990s, lawyer Harriet Miers was representing a 
Dallas businessman who had lost a $5 million deposit on a Texas 
skyscraper. The businessman had sued, but his case was thrown out of 
federal court because he had failed to show up for some depositions and 
been unruly at others. Miers appealed the case. Her argument: A case 
should be decided not on procedure but on its merits. She won.

Now President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, Miers has not amassed 
a long public record on her own legal philosophy. But one strong theme 
emerges from her three-decade-long career as a private lawyer: a 
practical approach to the law with a commitment that everyone has a 
right to legal representation.

"Harriet was not so taken with her client," recalled Dallas lawyer Lewis 
LeClair, who represented the other side in the skyscraper case, "but she 
was interested in the policy question: Should a case be decided on 
procedural grounds or on its merits? I was an advocate for my client, 
but as a matter of policy, I don't disagree."

Miers, 60, spent virtually her entire professional career as a 
practicing lawyer in Dallas, ended up managing one of Texas's largest 
law firms and counted then-Gov. George W. Bush among her clients. Unlike 
some court nominees who have served on federal appeals courts or in 
high-ranking public office, Miers has left little in the public record 
that illustrates her approach to the law and how she might decide cases 
as a justice.

She worked briefly on the Dallas City Council, directed the Texas 
Lottery Commission and has served in the White House, most recently as 
the president's counsel. But the majority of her working life has been 
spent litigating corporate legal disputes for private clients, haggling 
more frequently over conference tables with attorneys for her opponents 
than in courtrooms. Her cases usually were settled before going to trial.

Miers's limited published writings indicate she is a lawyer interested 
in the nuts-and-bolts aspects of America's legal system. She has focused 
on the business of lawyering, writing about how to manage a law firm and 
the benefits of continuing legal education. As a member of the American 
Bar Association, Miers wrote two short articles on one subject: the 
practical question of how lawyers who are certified to work in one state 
should approach work in another.

Her one foray into the controversial social subjects that can animate 
the high court was her work as a member of the ABA to get the 
organization to withdraw its official support for abortion rights. Her 
colleagues said that stemmed from her belief that the national 
association of lawyers should not take a stance on abortion and other 
issues that are matters of personal conscience.

Miers's firm, Locke Liddell & Sapp, is one of Texas's premier law firms. 
Although it has been tarnished by two cases of its clients bilking 
investors -- the firm paid $22 million to settle one lawsuit in 2000 and 
$8.5 million to settle another a year later -- Miers was not implicated. 
Her critics have said the cases raise questions about her management 
abilities.

"They say, 'She was managing partner -- she should have known,' but 
that's almost an impossibility," said Karin Torgerson, a partner at 
Locke Liddell who also worked under Miers when she was staff secretary 
at the White House. "Once the management committee became aware of the 
situation, she worked hard and fast to resolve it."

Locke Liddell has had a roster of high-profile clients besides Bush, 
including Walt Disney Co. and Microsoft Corp.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101301728.html
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