Michael E. Horowitz, President Obama’s nominee as the Justice Department’s top watchdog, has earned more than $4 million since last year as an attorney representing the likes of Pfizer Inc., Dow Chemical Co. and Cablevision Systems Corp. But he is keeping the identities of nearly a dozen other clients secret on newly filed ethics forms.
Federal ethics rules require nominees to disclose clients and customers so ethics officials and the public can vet potential conflicts of interest. But because of a narrow exception to the rules, Mr. Horowitz is withholding about half of his client list, meaning he essentially will have to police himself on any potential conflicts.
The secrecy is permitted thanks to an exception that allows attorney-client confidentiality to trump government disclosure mandates in limited circumstances, such as when a client has been involved in secret proceedings.
Nominated last month to be the Justice Department’s inspector general, Mr. Horowitz noted on a recent disclosure form filed with the Office of Government Ethics that the names of 11 clients were being withheld “where the representation involved a grand jury or other nonpublic investigation and the client name was not made public.”
Under federal ethics rules, nominees are permitted to keep clients secret if the identity is protected by court order or under seal. In addition, nominees can decline to disclose the identity of a client who has been the subject of a grand jury or nonpublic investigation, or if a written confidentiality agreement was in place when the lawyer was hired.
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/1/justice-nominee-keeps-names-of-11-clients-secret/
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