Neal Katyal, partner with Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. Oct. 30, 2017. 'Lawyers Know Better': Criticizing Lawyers for Defending Unpopular Clients Is Risky, 'Disturbing'
Without able lawyers willing to represent both sides of a legal dispute, our legal system cannot function at its best.
December 29, 2020 at 10:55 AM
5 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
There is an increasing and disturbing trend of criticizing lawyers for the clients they represent and for advancing arguments that are well within the bounds of zealous advocacy. Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal is the latest such target. Having first been attacked from one side of the political spectrum for representing alleged enemy combatants held in Guantanamo, he is now being hit from the other for representing Nestle in a suit alleging that Nestle aided and abetted abhorrent child labor practices abroad in violation of international law. In both cases, the criticism is equally misguided. Katyal was neither defending the waging of war on America nor defending child slavery. Instead, he was ably advancing detailed and somewhat technical arguments about the scope of federal statutes. The idea that in doing so in this latest matter he was defending child slavery is simply wrong.
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