Washington Wrap is a weekly look at industry news and Big Law moves shaping the legal business in Washington, D.C. Send news tips and lateral moves to Ryan Lovelace at [email protected].

After a tumultuous spring, there have been no summer doldrums for the National Rifle Association.

Beyond the spotlight that the mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, are shining on the NRA’s stances and influence, the organization is simultaneously under pressure from within its own ranks, and under investigation from several different government entities.

In July D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine launched a new probe of the NRA, following closely on the heels of another investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James into the group’s financial dealings.

The legal challenges compounded this week when NRA donor David Dell’Aquila filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee alleging widespread fraud by the NRA, its CEO Wayne LaPierre, and the NRA’s D.C.-based not-for-profit foundation.

Dell’Aquila, whose suit is seeking class-action status, said in his complaint that he learned of the NRA’s alleged misuse of funds from Lt. Col. Oliver North, a former NRA president who was forced out of the organization earlier this year. Dell’Aquila’s complaint estimated that he gave $100,000 in the previous four years to the NRA.

He told The Wall Street Journal that he’s proceeding without an attorney for now, but he’ll lawyer up if the NRA board doesn’t address his concerns, and “this specific genie will not go back into the bottle.”

Dell’Aquila’s complaint said North found that NRA outside counsel William Brewer III of Texas-based Brewer Attorneys & Counselors was collecting $2 million per month—at least as recently as March 2019—without authorization from the NRA or documentation by Brewer’s firm of the funds received. The complaint also alleges that LaPierre’s private expenditures—including “luxury travel” and clothing—were financed improperly by the NRA.

The lawsuit also cites allegedly “inflated payments” to Ackerman McQueen, an Oklahoma-based ad agency that severed a longstanding business relationship with the NRA earlier this year amid dueling litigation between Ackerman McQueen and the gun rights group.

Regarding Dell’Aquila’s lawsuit, Brewer said in a statement that the NRA believes it’s “totally without merit.”

“There was no legitimate ‘investigation’ by Lt. Col. North,” Brewer said in a statement. “We believe it was part of a contrived narrative to advance the interests of Lt. Col. North, his employer (Ackerman McQueen), and to deflect attention from their conduct.”

Brewer said his firm was proud of its advocacy on behalf of the NRA and “care[d] little about the opinions of those adversaries who seek to undermine the Association.”

NRA board president Carolyn Meadows said in a statement that Dell’Aquila’s lawsuit is “a misguided and frivolous pursuit.” In regards to the legal fees at issue, she said, “This is stale news—recycled by those with personal agendas. I have full confidence in Wayne LaPierre, the Brewer firm, and the substantial amount of work being done in support of the NRA and our members.”

Ackerman McQueen did not immediately respond to request for comment.

According to The Daily Beast, even the the president is a critic, at least when it comes to the NRA’s legal efforts. The site reported Friday that President Donald Trump privately told the NRA earlier this year that its legal team was “lousy” and needed to get better lawyers. A spokesperson for the NRA declined to confirm the exchange.

Law Firm Moves, News and Notes

For anyone closely following ALM’s coverage of LeClairRyan in recent months, the writing was on the wall. But it’s still big news when an Am Law 200 firm calls it quits, and the dissolution of Richmond, Virginia-based LeClairRyan is going to reverberate for a long time for the firm’s attorney diaspora.

Not everyone has found a new home yet: As of Friday afternoon, the firm’s website still listed more than two dozen lawyers in its D.C. and Alexandria offices.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati said this week that Tarek Helou joined its government investigations practice as a partner in D.C.

Helou most recently spent more than a decade with the U.S. Department of Justice, including as an assistant chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit. Wilson Sonsini managing partner Doug Clark said in a statement that Helou’s hire was responsive to “growing client demand for FCPA investigations expertise.”

Anderson Kill said this week it added Bob Cornish as a partner in D.C. from Wilson Elser .

Cornish is joining the firm’s corporate and commercial litigation group and its blockchain and virtual currency group.

Hunton Andrews Kurth lured another Virginia attorney general alumnus to its ranks this week through the addition of Matthew McGuire as a counsel in its issues and appeals practice.

McGuire, who will work in the firm’s Richmond office, was previously principal deputy solicitor general and executive division counsel in the Virginia Office of the Attorney General. He formerly worked at Jones Day in D.C. as well.