Hogan & Hartson: School Ties

Michael J. Wilson, Esq. is a partner in the D.C. law office of Morgan,  Lewis & Bockius.  In the summer of 1987 Michael Wilson, who had just completed his first year of law school at Catholic University, was one of my coworkers in the Computer Applications Department of Hogan & Hartson.  Tom MacIsaac was a law school classmate of Michael Wilson's and also worked with Michael Wilson and me.  Craig W. Dye was Tom MacIsaac's mentor.  Tom MacIsaac's work station was just outside the office of the department's supervisor, Miriam T. Chilton.

Miriam Chilton's employment started in late May 1987. Chilton was a 1983 graduate of Ithaca College. I don't know what supervisory experience Chilton had, if any. Chilton's supervisor was Freddie Rios, the firm's Legal Assistant Administrator. Rios didn't seem to have a handle on what was going on in the Computer Applications Department.

Chilton's secretary was named Laura Mayo; Mayo had worked for the previous Department supervisor, Sheryl Ferguson. Laura Mayo kept up telephone communication with Sheryl Ferguson after Ferguson left the firm. Laura Mayo had worked as a secretary for many years for Vinnie Cohen, Esq -- a highly-regarded firm partner.

On a day in June 1987, Laura Mayo entered my office and closed the door behind her. She had something to tell me. She said that Craig Dye and Data Base Administrator Esperanza "Espe" Rebollar had started a sexual relationship. She said that Craig was servicing Espe, in exchange for Espe's efforts in obtaining a job promotion for Craig. In fact Craig started to be trained in the work of Data Base Administrator at this time. Craig Dye later was named Administrator of the Computer Applications Department.

Craig Dye was a sexually-obsessed young man, phallic narcissistic in character. He was 28 years old and had never held more than menial jobs despite clearly exceptional intellectual abilities. He had a master's degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School for International Studies. He seemed hungry for advancement. "He was handsome, intelligent, manipulative, and a womanizer."  Fernando, J. "The Exceptions: Structural and Dynamic Aspects." The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 52: 17-28, 1997.  In fact, Craig started a sexual relationship with a 19-year-old college summer intern, employed by the firm in 1988. The intern came from a wealthy family and attended Smith College. A firm employee, Daniel D. Cutler, Esq., told me on the evening of November 24, 1988 (Thanksgiving), in the company of Axel Martinez: "All of Craig's friends are telling him he should marry Alex; her father is loaded."

Laura Mayo told me about one incident in which Craig and Data Base Administrator Espe Rebollar went back to Craig's apartment (1726 U Street) at lunch time. Espe returned to the office hours later; she was clearly drunk, according to Mayo.  Craig never returned to work that afternoon. Mayo reported to me that the two individuals had sex at Craig's apartment.

The facts reported to me by Laura Mayo were confirmed by Sandra Smalls, a data entry operator. When Smalls told me that Craig and Espe were having sex, I said in jest: "I just hope Craig doesn't injure himself." Smalls was later terminated for misconduct in about the summer of 1990 by Craig Dye. It was the opinion of Charles Leon Green, Esq., who worked in the department in the fall of 1985, that Smalls was a scam artist. Smalls had been hired by Sheryl Ferguson in 1985.

The above is a factual report of statements made to me by Laura Mayo and Sandra Smalls. I did not verify that the incidents reported by Mayo and Smalls actually occurred. Laura Mayo said that she talked to Sheryl Ferguson from time to time in the evenings by telephone and reported these facts to Ferguson. I don't know why Mayo told me about a sexual relationship between Craig and Espe. I was generally out of the loop regarding office gossip. What was Mayo's motive in reporting these facts to me, of all people?  Mayo's statements are hearsay as to the truth of Craig's and Espe's conduct.  Mayo's statements to me are not hearsay as to whether Mayo was spreading sexual rumors in the department.  Why was Mayo engaged in spreading sexual rumors in the department?

The Computer Applications Department devolved to an interpersonal cesspool after Sheryl Ferguson announced to Department employees on February 12, 1987 that she planned to leave Hogan & Hartson. Moments after Ferguson made the announcement and left the office, Mary Jane Coolen, an employee, said to me about one hard-working employee, Matthew Allendar, on whom Ferguson relied: "Once she's gone (meaning Ferguson), he (meaning Allender) won't last a minute. We'll see to that!"

At about that time (February 1987) Daniel D. Cutler, Esq. spread a rumor in the Department that I was a homosexual who was in love with Craig. It was the unmarried Cutler who moved in with Craig during the summer of 1987 at Craig's U Street apartment. I never showed any interest in living with Craig. According to the American Psychiatric Association, the act of spreading a rumor that someone else is homosexual is evidence of envy and jealousy and is to be considered in the diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder.

During the winter of 1987, some time after February 12, 1987, Cutler organized other employees in a work slow-down in the Department to extract increased compensation from Hogan & Hartson. During a staff meeting concerning work on a document production task for the client Chrysler (Staggs airbag litigation), attended by attorney David Kikel, Esq., Cutler threatened Kikel: "If we do the work you want us to do, what's in it for us?" Ferguson was present and appeared infuriated by Cutler's behavior. Ferguson said nothing; she had already announced, on February 12, 1987,  that she was leaving the firm. Cutler's behavior can be interpreted as an act of interpersonal exploitation, symptomatic of a narcissistic personality disorder. See Kernberg, O. Ideology, "Conflict, and Leadership in Groups and Organizations" (Yale University Press: 1998) (the interplay of libidinal and aggressive impulses enacted within the dynamic unconscious of the individual also occurs at the level of groups and social organizations and can lead to dangerous regressive group processes).

I was terminated in February 1988 under suspicious circumstances. Oddly, one year earlier, in February 1987, James Hourihan, Esq., the billing partner for the client Chrysler said to Sheryl Ferguson (based on Ferguson's report to me): "I want you to fire all the people in your department; but keep Gary and Matthew." Ferguson told me she explained to Hourihan that she couldn't carry out a mass termination during an ongoing document production task: that it would be too disruptive. When Chilton started working at the firm in May 1987 she said to me: "Gary, I consider you to be the one indispensable person in the department. I don't consider anyone else to be indispensable."

What did Laura Mayo know, and when did she know it? I wonder what Chief Justice John Roberts, a former Hogan partner, would say about this.

Espe Rebollar was less than exemplary as an employee, to say the least. In 1987 the firm embarked on a project to advise all its clients (numbering in the thousands) that the firm had moved.  Rebollar was in charge of the mass mailing. She sent out the notices, without ever having the mailing list proofread. Bob Odle the managing partner was furious. The firm got hundreds of returned letters. The firm had to do another mailing -- at considerable expense. Comment by Gary Freedman on September 20, 2009 at 1:00pm

In early 1987 Sheryl Ferguson stated to me: "Craig has been a disappointment. I expected great things from him when I hired him [in October 1986]. But he's turned out to be like the rest of them." Or words to that effect.  Craig confirmed to me personally that Ferguson told him that he had been a disappointment. Comment by Gary Freedman on September 20, 2009 at 12:54pm

Daniel D. Cutler, Esq., said to me in the fall of 1986, shortly after he started employment at Hogan & Hartson: "How are your rental properties doing?" I do not own rental properties.

In about September 1987 Mr. Cutler said to me: "Isn't it true that it was the Jews themselves who built the [Nazi] concentration camps?" Craig was present. Comment by Gary Freedman on September 20, 2009 at 12:50pm

Comment Joel Dorow and Miriam Chilton are members of reform congregation Temple Ner Tamid in New Jersey. Comment by Gary Freedman on September 20, 2009 at 12:42pm

Craig Dye worked closely with Freddie Rios during the fall of 1986 regarding a special firm project: Hogan's furniture inventory in contemplation of Hogan's move from 815 Connecticut Avenue to Columbia Square.

Coincidentally, a former Inspector General of the United States was employed as a law clerk at Hogan in the fall of 1985.  My employment at Hogan started in mid-September 1985.