Covington & Burling

Covington & Burling is a major legal and lobbying firm focused on "cutting-edge technology, litigation, white collar defense, transactional, governmental affairs, international, life sciences and other matters." It has U.S. offices in Washington D.C., New York City, San Francisco, San Diego, and the Silicon Valley, European offices in London and Brussels, and Asian offices in Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul.

Stuart Eizenstat is one of the partners at Covington & Burling.

In 2011, Covington & Burling recorded annual revenues of $611 million.

Ties to Pete Peterson's "Fix the Debt"
The Campaign to Fix the Debt is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson to slash earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem."

This article is part of the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation of Pete Peterson's Campaign to "Fix the Debt." Please visit our main SourceWatch page on Fix the Debt.

Ties to the Tobacco Industry
Covington & Burling has served as "corporate affairs consultants" to the Philip Morris group of companies, according to a 1993 internal budget review document which indicated the firm was paid $280,000 to "serve as general counsel to the Consumer Products Company Tort Coalition, argue the legal objectives with member company litigators, draft legislation and amendments, prepare lobby papers and testimony for legislative committees and administer the coalition's budget."

Covington & Burling was involved in organizing Philip Morris' Whitecoat Project, designed to help obscure the health effects of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.

During the $280 billion U.S. federal lawsuit against Big Tobacco, Covington & Burling partner John Rupp, a former lawyer with the industry-funded Tobacco Institute, testified that "the industry sought out scientists and paid them to make an 'objective appraisal' of whether secondhand smoke was harmful to non-smokers, a move they hoped would dispel the 'extreme views' of some anti-smoking activists." He said "the scientists, who came from prestigious institutions such as Georgetown University and the University of Massachusetts, did not consider themselves to be working 'on behalf' of cigarette makers even though they were being paid by the industry." Rupp said, "We were paying them to share their views in forums where they would be usefully presented," according to Reuters. 

Partners in Covington & Burling included, but is not limited to, Keith Teel, Allan Topol and John Rupp, who have knowledge of lobbying tactics employed in Texas by the tobacco industry. The "push poll" conducted January 20-25, 1996, regarding Attorney General Dan Morales, was commissioned by Covington & Burling, and funded by Brown & Williamson, Lorillard, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Teel has knowledge of the tobacco industry's tactics employed in Texas, including the use of "push polls" to intimidate or control public officials' actions. Teel was also member of the tobacco industry delegation who met with Attorney General Dan Morales in February, 1996 in an attempt to prevent the filing of the state's lawsuit against the tobacco industry to recoup Medicaid costs for treating sick smokers. Despite these efforts the lawsuit was pursued, being concluded with an out of court settlement in 1998. As stipulated in the settlement, the tobacco industry agreed to pay Texas $15 billion over the course of 25 years and paid $2.3 billion through 2003 to counties and hospital districts. In 2003, Dan Morales was charged with fraud and sentenced to four years in prison after fraudulently obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars from the tobacco settlement.

Allan Topol of C&B attended a meeting of the Research Directors of Brown & Williamson, Philip Morris, and Liggett & Myers at Liggett & Myers Operations Center in Durham, NC on May 24, 1968. The objective of the meeting was to determine the variation and the amounts of Federal Trace Commission (FTC)-determined tar exposure which various groups of the population encounter when smoking various cigarettes. He attended the December 7, 1967, meeting at the Research Triangle Institute regarding individual's smoke exposure. He has knowledge of smokers' "compensation" techniques and the inaccuracies of the FTC method for measuring tar/nicotine exposure to smokers. Mr. Topol has knowledge regarding nicotine addiction, nicotine manipulation and disease/cancer causation. Covington & Burling were Counsel to the Tobacco Institute and Lorillard Counsel for Tobacco Sales. (PMI's Introduction to Privileged Log and Glossary of Names, Estate of Burl Butler v. PMI, et al, April 19, 1996)

TXU Deal: 12 Lobbyists per Congressman
"Almost a dozen lobbyists registered last week to represent the investor groups involved in the $45 billion buyout of Texas electric utility TXU Corp.," reported The Hill in March 2007. Apparently the lobbyist hires were prompted in part by Representative Joe Barton's (R-Texas) criticism of the TXU buyout as "a bad deal for consumers." 

"The private equity groups involved, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Texas Pacific Group (registered under TPG Capital LP), hired an experienced, bipartisan lobbying team from Covington & Burling LLP to keep an eye on Barton as well as those federal agencies that might need to sign off on the deal," added The Hill. 

Other Clients

 * Compete, a coalition of companies "promoting competitive electricity markets." The group, whose members include PPL Corp. and DPL Inc., paid the firm "$200,000 to lobby the federal government in the first half of 2007," reported AP.
 * Sepracor, which "is seeking to fight a decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to lower the reimbursement rate for its asthma drug Xopenex," according to Boston Business Journal.

Partners
As of February 2013:


 * Tammy Albarrán (San Francisco)
 * Robert F. Amaee (London)
 * Simon Amies (London)
 * Scott A. Anthony (Silicon Valley)
 * Stephen P. Anthony (Washington)
 * Bruce A. Baird (Washington)
 * Patricia A. Barald (Washington)
 * Thomas O. Barnett (Washington)
 * Michael St. Patrick Baxter (Washington)
 * David B. Bayless (San Francisco)
 * Bruce C. Bennett (New York)
 * Paul J. Berman (Washington)
 * Georg M. Berrisch (Brussels)
 * Brian G. Bieluch (Washington)
 * Eric W. Blanchard (New York)
 * Alan Blankenheimer (San Diego)
 * Benjamin C. Block (Washington)
 * Jack S. Bodner (New York)
 * Peter W.L. Bogaert (Brussels)
 * Eric C. Bosset (Washington)
 * Edward C. Britton (Washington)
 * Mike Brock (Washington)
 * Caroline M. Brown (Washington)
 * Donald W. Brown (San Francisco)
 * Maureen F. Browne (Washington)
 * Dan Bryant (Washington)
 * John G. Buchanan III (Washington)
 * Kerry Shannon Burke (Washington)
 * Andrew C. Byrnes (Silicon Valley)
 * Michael J. Caballero (Washington)
 * Kurt G. Calia (Silicon Valley)
 * Eric Carlson (Beijing)
 * Jo Dale Carothers (San Diego)
 * Susan B. Cassidy (Washington)
 * Grant H. Castle (London)
 * Warren G. Caywood Jr. (New York)
 * Marney Cheek (Washington)
 * Shaoyu Chen (Beijing)
 * William W. Chip (Washington)
 * Paul Claydon (London)
 * Dianne F. Coffino (New York)
 * Miranda Cole (Brussels)
 * Kevin B. Collins (Washington)
 * William R. Collins (New York)
 * Casey Cooper (London)
 * Daniel P. Cooper (London)
 * Ellen B. Corenswet (New York)
 * Carolyn F. Corwin (Washington)
 * Evan R. Cox (San Francisco)
 * Thomas L. Cubbage III (Washington)
 * Robert E. Culbertson (Washington)
 * Scott Cunningham (Washington)
 * Simon Currie (London)
 * Michael E. Cutler (Washington)
 * Scott D. Danzis (Washington)
 * Catherine J. Dargan (Washington)
 * Patrick S. Davies (Washington)
 * James R. Dean Jr. (Washington)
 * Matthew S. DelNero (Washington)
 * Bruce Deming (San Francisco)
 * Christopher M. Denig (Washington)
 * Mitchell F. Dolin (Washington)
 * Yaron Dori (Washington)
 * John C. Dugan (Washington)
 * P. Benjamin Duke (New York)
 * Julie M. Edmond (Washington)
 * Michelle W. Edwards (Beijing)
 * Stuart E. Eizenstat (Washington)
 * Jeffrey B. Elikan (Washington)
 * Anna P. Engh (Washington)
 * David H. Engvall (Washington)
 * Roger Enock (London)
 * Christopher K. Eppich (San Diego)
 * David N. Fagan (Washington)
 * Steven E. Fagell (Washington)
 * Michael J. Fanelli (Washington)
 * Holly Fechner (Washington)
 * Peter L. Flanagan (Washington)
 * Ellen J. Flannery (Washington)
 * Robert D. Fram (San Francisco)
 * Michael J. Francese (Washington)
 * Simon J. Frankel (San Francisco)
 * Gregor Frizzell (London)
 * Robert J. Gage (Washington)
 * Marialuisa S. Gallozzi (Washington)
 * Oscar M. Garibaldi (Washington)
 * James M. Garland (Washington)
 * Deborah A. Garza (Washington)
 * Damien Geradin (Brussels)
 * Douglas G. Gibson (Washington)
 * Nora L. Gibson (San Francisco)
 * Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. (San Francisco)
 * Mark P. Gimbel (New York)
 * Jonathan Gimblett (Washington)
 * Corinne A. Goldstein (Washington)
 * Saul B. Goodman (Washington)
 * David B. Goodwin (San Francisco)
 * Simon Goodworth (London)
 * John P. Gourary (New York)
 * John D. Graubert (Washington)
 * William F. Greaney (Washington)
 * Joanne B. Grossman (Washington)
 * James Gubbins (London)
 * Miriam J. Guggenheim (Washington)
 * Eugene D. Gulland (Washington)
 * Keir D. Gumbs (Washington)
 * John E. Hall (Washington)
 * David W. Haller (New York)
 * James Halstead (London)
 * Robert P. Haney Jr. (New York)
 * Christine Saunders Haskett (San Francisco)
 * Robert T. Haslam (Silicon Valley)
 * Robert Heller (New York)
 * Emily Johnson Henn (Silicon Valley)
 * Timothy C. Hester (Washington)
 * Geoffrey E. Hobart (Washington)
 * Lawrence A. Hobel (San Francisco)
 * Benjamin Hoch (New York)
 * Michael B. Hopkins (New York)
 * Nigel L. Howard (New York)
 * Philip K. Howard (New York)
 * David W. Hull (Brussels)
 * John A. Hurvitz (Washington)
 * Michael X. Imbroscio (Washington)
 * Stephen A. Infante (New York)
 * Philip A. Irwin (New York)
 * W. Andrew Jack (Washington)
 * Jennifer A. Johnson (Washington)
 * Georgia Kazakis (Washington)
 * Robert K. Kelner (Washington)
 * Nancy Kestenbaum (New York)
 * Richard F. Kingham (London, Washington)
 * Michael Kingston (London)
 * Lars Kjølbye (Brussels)
 * Frederick J. Knecht (New York)
 * Rukesh Korde (Washington)
 * David L. Kornblau (New York)
 * Rubén Kraiem (New York)
 * Michael S. Labson (Washington)
 * Peter A. Laveran-Stiebar (London)
 * D. Michael Lefever (Washington)
 * Benedict M. Lenhart (Washington)
 * Emily I. Leonard (Silicon Valley)
 * Jeffrey Lerner (Washington)
 * Gregg H. Levy (Washington)
 * Weishi Li	Shanghai)
 * Peter Lichtenbaum (Washington)
 * Erika Lietzan (Washington)
 * Robert A. Long (Washington)
 * Miguel López Forastier (Washington)
 * David Lorello (London)
 * Daniel Luchsinger (Washington)
 * Derek Ludwin (Washington)
 * Mark H. Lynch (Washington)
 * Michael M. Markman (San Francisco)
 * David B.H. Martin (Washington)
 * Gerald F. Masoudi (Washington)
 * William L. Massey (Washington)
 * Andrew W. Ment (New York)
 * Allan B. Moore (Washington)
 * Amy N. Moore (Washington)
 * Mark W. Mosier (Washington)
 * Donald J. Murray (New York)
 * Laura E. Muschamp (San Diego)
 * Louise Nash (London)
 * Lynn A. Neils (New York)
 * Robert Newman (Washington)
 * Robert Nichols (Washington)
 * Keith A. Noreika (Washington)
 * James J. O'Connell (Washington)
 * Matthew J. O'Connor (Washington)
 * Lucinda Osborne (London)
 * Ira M. Palgon (New York)
 * George F. Pappas (Washington)
 * William H.Y. Park* (San Francisco, Seoul)
 * Mona Patel (Washington)
 * William M. Paul (Washington)
 * Daniel Pavin (London)
 * Lisa Peets (London)
 * Alan A. Pemberton (Washington)
 * Jeannie M. Perron DVM (Washington)
 * C. William Phillips (New York)
 * Christian J. Pistilli (Washington)
 * Michael K. Plimack (San Francisco)
 * Mark E. Plotkin (Washington)
 * Ethan M. Posner (Washington)
 * Hilary Prescott (London)
 * Jason C. Raofield (Washington)
 * Benjamin J. Razi (Washington)
 * Ingrid Rechtin (San Francisco)
 * Andrea G. Reister (Washington)
 * Donald J. Ridings Jr. (Washington)
 * Michael J. Riella (Washington)
 * Edward H. Rippey (Washington)
 * Carey S. Roberts (New York)
 * Paul V. Rogers (Washington)
 * Neil K. Roman (Washington)
 * Steven J. Rosenbaum (Washington)
 * Mace J. Rosenstein (Washington)
 * David A. Rosinus (New York)
 * Simone E. Ross (Washington)
 * Gary M. Rubman (Washington)
 * Andrew A. Ruffino (New York)
 * John P. Rupp (London)
 * Peter O. Safir (Washington)
 * Seth J. Safra (Washington)
 * Paul W. Schmidt (Washington)
 * Peter A. Schwartz (New York)
 * Anupam Sharma (Silicon Valley)
 * Loretta Shaw-Lorello (New York)
 * Richard C. Shea (Washington)
 * Clara J. Shin (San Francisco)
 * Christopher N. Sipes (Washington)
 * William P. Skinner (Washington)
 * Jay T. Smith (Washington)
 * Scott F. Smith (New York)
 * James C. Snipes (San Francisco)
 * Sturgis M. Sobin (Washington)
 * Jeremy D. Spector (Washington)
 * Jonathan M. Sperling (New York)
 * Stuart C. Stock (Washington)
 * Einar Stole (Washington)
 * Elaine W. Stone (Washington)
 * Anita F. Stork (San Francisco)
 * Timothy P. Stratford (Beijing)
 * Kimberly A. Strosnider (Washington)
 * William L. Sturman (New York)
 * Nitin Subhedar (San Francisco)
 * Dirk J.J. Suringa (Washington)
 * Peter A. Swanson (Washington)
 * Philipp Tamussino (New York)
 * Winslow Taub (San Francisco)
 * Carolyn E. Taylor (New York)
 * Keith A. Teel (Washington)
 * Lee J. Tiedrich (Washington)
 * Henriette Tielemans (Brussels)
 * Amy L. Toro (San Francisco)
 * Emin Toro (Washington)
 * Seth A. Tucker (Washington)
 * Gaëtan Verhoosel (London)
 * John K. Veroneau (Washington)
 * D. Jean Veta (Washington)
 * Alan Vinegrad (New York)
 * Ralph C. Voltmer (Washington)
 * Theodore Voorhees Jr. (Washington)
 * Gerard J. Waldron (Washington)
 * Christopher Walter (London)
 * Natalie Walter (London)
 * Eva H. Wang	Shanghai)
 * J. D. Weinberg (New York)
 * Albert (Bert) Wells (New York)
 * Reeves C. Westbrook (Washington)
 * Robert D. Wick (Washington)
 * Kristian E. Wiggert (London)
 * Bruce S. Wilson (Washington)
 * Sarah L. Wilson (Washington)
 * Kurt Wimmer (Washington)
 * Sonya D. Winner (San Francisco)
 * Edward Yingling (Washington)
 * Stanley Young (Silicon Valley)
 * Peter Zern (Washington)

Contact information
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004-2401 Phone: 202.662.6000 Fax: 202.662.6291 Web: http://www.cov.com/index.html

Noël Decker Head of PR - U.S. Covington & Burling 202.662.6361 Email: ndecker AT cov.com

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