Hogan & Hartson: An Encounter With Debbie Jeffrey, Esq.

As I was walking to the Cleveland Park library this afternoon I saw Debbie Jeffrey on a Connecticut Avenue street corner. Debbie Jeffrey is a lawyer, a Harvard graduate, no less. She was an associate at Hogan & Hartson when I worked there in the late 1980s. She was part of a team of lawyers who worked on the Milwaukee Public Schools desegregation case, in the firm's Education Practice Group. Debbie Jeffrey, I would guess, lives in my neighborhood. I see her from time to time, and have seen her for years walking on Connecticut Avenue in Cleveland Park. She no longer practices at Hogan.

Who were some of the other attorneys I worked with on the Milwaukee litigation? Well, there was the billing partner, David Tatel, Esq. I never met him. David Tatel is now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

I also worked with Elliott Mincberg, Esq. Elliot Mincberg graduated from Harvard Law School. He left Hogan years ago and practiced law at People for the American Way. He's now counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by John Conyers (of Watergate fame). I sent Mr. Mincberg a copy of my book, Significant Moments. I only send my book to people I respect: highly respect. After all, the book costs me about $35.00 a pop! I don't know if Elliot Mincberg even remembers me.

I worked with an associate named Steve Routh, another Harvard Law School graduate. I remember sitting in Elliott Mincberg's office when he received a telephone call from Steve Routh in early January 1987. After he hung up the phone Mr. Mincberg said to me, "That was Steve Routh. His wife just had a baby." Steve Routh and his wife, Linda Stein, named their son Robert Martin Routh after Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. There were so many idealistic people at Hogan! Hogan's hiring committee has a thing or two to teach other law firms. But then, what do I know? The chairman of the hiring committee at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, where I used to work, had me certified insane.

There was another lawyer named Dan Korman. He once came down with malaria. Only people who travel to exotic places come down with malaria. My father contracted malaria in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific during World War II.

Oh, yes, and Maree Sneed. Maree Sneed used to be a middle school principal. Law was a second career for her.

They were all nice people, people you would want to know: people you would want to invite into your home. I wouldn't say that about most lawyers. Lawyers, as a group, are not people I would ordinarily choose to spend any time with.