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Lawyers bearing briefcases, writs and rhetoric

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November 15, 2000 

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida-- (AP) - They're in courthouses up and down the state and dead center in nearly every news conference.

The lawyers who have invaded Florida come in all parties and sizes - former U.S. attorneys and state attorneys general, an O.J. Simpson criminal lawyer and two men who've both held the title of U.S. secretary of state.

On Monday, the battle for the White House was waged by writ. Some courtrooms could barely contain all the lawyers.

In Miami, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit filed by Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush during a hearing bulging with barristers. Extra desks and folding chairs were fetched for some 30 attorneys who knocked knees trying to sit.

In Tallahassee, another army of lawyers descended for Democrat Al Gore and filed suit to erase an edict from Florida's secretary of state that would force all hand recounts to cease by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

In West Palm Beach, another 30 or so attorneys filled the jury box, the front row and the aisles of a courtroom where county Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp heard more than a dozen motions filed in connection with civil suits filed by Democratic voters, only to recuse himself at the end of the day.

An affidavit was produced proclaiming Rapp had said in open court that voters who couldn't understand last Tuesday's ballot must be "stupid." The judge denied that but stepped down for propriety's sake, he said. The hearing begins anew Tuesday with a new judge.

There are hundreds of lawyers here, and many are working for free. That doesn't include attorneys hired by media outlets, including The Associated Press, to remind state officials of laws that guarantee access to public meetings.

Why would lawyers donate hours individually invoiced at hundreds of dollars? The common reply is to help unstick a very stuck presidential election. A less altruistic answer: to reap future rewards.

"They're all working pro bono with the hopes that their side wins," said Washington, D.C., attorney Jan Baran, former counsel to the Republican National Committee. "And if their side wins, they dream of appropriate rewards. There are judicial rewards somewhere down the road."

Meaning appointments to the bench.

Baran knows about contested elections. He has spent 25 years dealing with recounts from Illinois to New Jersey. And like many others, including the lawyers themselves, he chuckles at their sheer numbers here.

"There was an automatic recount in 67 counties. Let's figure one lawyer per side. You're looking at 134 lawyers just there."

Then add the federal lawsuit, which necessitates constitutional law experts and Florida law experts, particularly if there are appeals.

"By the time you add all that up, you're looking at easily hundreds of lawyers," he said.

The biggest thus far are:

- Gore team leader Warren Christopher, a former U.S. secretary of state who boarded a jet from Los Angeles, leaving his current job at the prestigious firm of O'Melveney and Myers;

- Bush point man James A. Baker III, secretary of state for Bush's dad, who rushed down from the high-powered Washington firm of Baker Botts which bears his family name.

Gore's lawyers are headed by former Southern Florida U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey, who fought to keep 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez with his Miami relatives. The Republicans' litigation leader is Barry Richard, a constitutional expert and former Florida deputy attorney general. In 1998, he also was counsel to the state's Republican Gov.-elect Jeb Bush, brother of his newest boss.

And a familiar media face appeared Monday, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, of Simpson fame. He now represents eight Palm Beach County voters who say they punched the wrong hole on their presidential ballot.