Many describe it as a perfect fit. When Kurt L. Schmoke leaves the mayor's office at the end of the year, he will join a law firm that seems tailor-made for him.
Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering -- considered by some to be the top firm in Washington and among the five best in the country -- will provide Schmoke the opportunity to work on government issues on national and international stages.
"If he's going to move from the public sector to the private sector, he couldn't go to a finer place," said Paul Bekman, past president of the Maryland Bar Association. "I think he could do virtually anything he wanted to do there."
Founded in 1962, Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering began as a regulatory law firm representing clients doing business with government agencies.
Over the years, the firm has greatly expanded its litigation and corporate business. It employs more than 275 lawyers and has offices in Washington, Baltimore, New York, London, Brussels, Belgium, and Berlin.
The firm's range is illustrated in part by its many high-profile cases. It has represented the Dallas Cowboys against the National Football League, Pamela Harriman against the Harriman family trusts, and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Liability Fund in the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Its clients have included McDonald's, America Online, CBS and General Electric in important cases involving everything from defamation to discrimination.
The underpinning of the firm remains government work.
"I think what interested Kurt in us and us in Kurt is the fact that this guy not only understands but loves policy questions, whether housing issues or transportation issues or health care," said former Maryland Attorney General and U.S. Attorney Stephen H. Sachs, a partner with the firm.
"These are things that turn him on," Sachs said. "Clients who see that are going to respond to that. Regulators will see the same thing from a government point of view."
The opportunities for Schmoke to involve himself on a broad level will be extensive, said Sachs. "Kurt's horizons don't stop at the Chesapeake Bay," he said. "I think he will be involved in the international practice."
In a firm replete with veterans of government service, Schmoke will find prominent colleagues. Lloyd N. Cutler, a founding partner and former counsel to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, remains in active practice. Another partner, former Bush administration White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, concentrates on environmental law.
Besides Sachs, Schmoke will find other Baltimore neighbors, including George P. Stamas, counsel to and limited partner of the Baltimore Orioles.
Pub Date: 3/11/99