Clement's New Firm

As King & Spalding announced Monday that the firm will drop its representation of House Republicans leadership's legal defense in the Defense of Marriage Act cases, Paul Clement, a partner who was tapped to head that defense, has joined a new D.C. law firm, Bancroft PLLC -- one staffed by many former Justice Department attorneys under President George W. Bush.

In a statement announcing his joining the new firm, Clement, a former Solicitor General under President Bush, said, "I have known my Bancroft partners for more than 20 years. They put clients first and deliver results. Bancroft offers its clients premier talent, without all the baggage of a mega firm. We are shaking up the D.C. legal establishment."

Clement resigned from King & Spalding after the firm announced that it would withdraw from its representation in defending DOMA. King & Spalding has a gay-friendly track record, with its score of 95 on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, and its history of recruiting openly LGBT staff members. Due to their initial decision to get involved with the DOMA cases, HRC and Georgia Equality HAD announced plans to protest near the firm's Atlanta headquarters on Tuesday.

Bancroft PLLC specializes mostly in corporate governance, national security, compliance of the USA PATRIOT Act, and other dealings with the federal government.

Viet D. Dinh, Bancroft's lead partner, was one of the top figures authors of the USA PATRIOT Act. According to his bio, Dinh helped appoint 100 district judges and 23 appellate judges during his time at the Department of Justice. He is also currently on the board of directors for News Corporation, owned by Rupert Murdoch.

H. Christopher Bartolomucci, another partner at the firm, worked at the office of Solicitor General, and counsel for the Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Special Whitewater Development Corporation during the Clinton administration. He also served as White House counsel for President George W. Bush from 2001-2003. His areas of expertise include complex trial litigation. He was previously a partner at Hogan & Hartson, a long-standing firm in Washington, D.C., which merged with another firm in 2010 to become Hogan Lovells, another firm that has high marks on several indexes for its commitment to diversity, especially for fostering a gay-friendly work environment.

Conor B. Dugan worked for the Department of Justice for seven years after serving as a clerk to current Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito when he was on the bench at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His focus is on criminal law, disability law, religious liberty, attorneys fees, and voting issues, according to his bio. Nathan A. Sales, who teaches national security law and administrative law at George Mason University, worked for the Department of Justice in 2001-2003 and for the Department of Homeland Security from 2006-2007. He was also awarded in 2002 for his hand in writing the PATRIOT Act.