Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks (Photo: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg)

After the U.S. Department of Justice inadvertently disclosed that charges may be pending against Julian Assange, the controversial figure's international team of attorneys has been thrust back into the limelight.

Several news organizations late Thursday seized on a filing from August in a case pending out of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, which said that charges had been filed against the WikiLeaks founder, who is currently living in the Embassy of Ecuador in London.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which made the filing, quickly told several news organisations Friday, that "The court filing was made in error. That was not the intended name for this filing." However, the news could have repercussions for the international list of attorneys representing Assange in the various legal challenges he faces across the globe, including asylum claims in England and a civil rights suit against Ecuador.

The attorney representing Assange regarding criminal investigations in the U.S. is Washington, D.C., attorney Barry Pollack. Earlier this year, Pollack left Miller & Chevalier to become a partner at the boutique Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber.

Pollack, however, represents Assange through his solo firm, The Law Offices of Barry J. Pollack. He also represents Assange but does not represent WikiLeaks.

In a statement to the press, Pollack said the potential charges and the "haphazard" way the information had been revealed was "troubling."

"The government bringing criminal charges against someone for publishing truthful information is a dangerous path for a democracy to take," Pollack said in the statement.

As part of Assange's legal team overseas, Jennifer Robinson from the London-based firm Doughty Street Chambers has been advising both WikiLeaks and Assange regarding his asylum and extradition claims, according to Pollack and Robinson's online bio. Robinson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Robinson, whose practice focuses on free speech and civil liberties issues, previously worked at the London-based Finers Stephens Innocent, where she represented clients including The New York Times and Bloomberg.

Along with possibly facing an indictment in the U.S., Assange has sued the government of Ecuador. Since 2012, Assange has been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, seeking asylum after being charged by Swedish authorities with sexual assault. He still could face charges related to skipping bail in connection with the charges.

Assange recently sued Ecuador, alleging they violated his rights by cutting off his phone and internet access.

According to press reports, Assange is being represented in those efforts by Spanish attorney and ex-judge Baltasar Garzón and Ecuadorian attorney Carlos Poveda.

Assange has been a controversial figure since his organisation, WikiLeaks, began publishing diplomatic cables from the U.S. State Department, beginning in 2010. In 2016, the group also released troves of Democratic Party emails stolen by Russian hackers.

The filing that caught the media's attention Thursday was made in a case against a man charged with "coercion and enticement of a minor" as part of the DOJ's effort to have the case sealed. The Aug. 22 filing in United States v. Kokayi said that, aside from sealing the docket, "no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged."

It was not immediately clear whether the charges were part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

In an interview Friday with Law.com, Pollack did not say whether he had been in contact with Assange or any other members of Assange's international legal team, but he said he did not expect there to be many developments in the legal proceedings against Assange stateside until any issues regarding asylum and extradition are hashed out, mostly likely in a British court.

"We're a ways down the road before he would ever be brought here to face criminal charges," Pollack said. "Obviously, if and when, and I hope we never get to that point, if somehow he is brought here facing criminal charges, I would bring whatever resources we need to bare to litigate."

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