Former Sutherland Asbill & Brennan partner Hamilton “Phil” Fox III has given up representing lawyers in ethical trouble for a new gig — investigating attorneys. Fox, 65, recently retired from Sutherland, where he practiced white-collar criminal defense and represented lawyers facing disciplinary action. Now, he’s set up shop about 10 blocks away at the D.C. Office of Bar Counsel, digging into old, complex cases that he described as “hanging around.” Jackson & Campbell partner Arthur Burger, a Fox pal, said he first thought the move to “the OBC dark side” was a joke. Burger called Fox “very much a lawyer’s defense lawyer.” Fox, a former chairman of the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, said he faced mandatory retirement at Sutherland but was not ready to give up on the law altogether. He said he has about 20 cases in front of him now. “When a matter comes in, I start thinking about it in terms of how I would defend it if I were the lawyer on the other side,” Fox said. “In deciding how you would charge the case it’s useful to think about how you would defend it.” The assistant bar counsel post puts Fox in closer proximity to the federal trial court in downtown, where he remains a plaintiff in a civil suit over his arrest in 2008 on a disorderly conduct charge. — Mike Scarcella
D.C. COUNCIL MEMBERS SEEK COOKE FOR HELP
For anyone keeping score, Washington attorney Frederick Cooke Jr. currently represents three of the 13 members of the D.C. Council. Cooke, a name partner in Washington’s Rubin, Winston, Diercks, Harris & Cooke, is defending Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) against allegations that he diverted more than $300,000 meant for youth programs largely for personal use.
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