Now he's mum Cash money please Fair counsel Cue the lights

The new chief counsel for Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee doesn’t want to discuss his comparison of same-sex marriage with pedophilia and bestiality. In a blog post dated April 20, William Smith was responding to a speech by campaign consultant Steve Schmidt, who had urged the GOP to support gay marriage. “Is Schmidt then going to take his close minded stump speech to the Bestiality Club?” Smith wrote. He also referenced the North American Man Boy Love Association. A few weeks later, by the time Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) had named him chief counsel, those musings had been taken down. Smith and others on Sessions’ staff declined to comment on the writings, which the Blog of Legal Times reported on May 19. Asked again to comment after a committee meeting on May 21, Smith walked away without a word. — David Ingram

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has been the arena of choice this month for Washington firms looking to collect unpaid fees. Partner Gary Tepper is representing Arent Fox in two separate suits against former clients. The complaint against Geitz Master Builders and Superior Home Services alleges that the firm has yet to be paid $76,000. The second suit, filed last week, accuses Phillips Park LLC, a real estate development company, and First Capital Trust of failing to pony up $390,584. Also last week, Francis Carter of Zuckerman Spaeder filed suit for $834,000, fees for winning a tax acquittal for James Auffenberg. Firing back in a counterclaim, Auffenberg said he’s already forked over $1.5 million, which is all the firm said it would charge him. — Jeff Jeffrey and Jordan Weissmann