Goulden, Joseph C. The Superlawyers: The Small and Powerful World of the
Great Washington Law Firms. New York: Weybright and Talley, 1972. 408 pages.
In 1969, Ralph Nader was a model for public-spirited law students,
while Lloyd Cutler represented General Motors in efforts to fight air
pollution standards. The staid firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering was
picketed by fifteen polite law students from George Washington University
on October 9, which resulted in what many believe was the first press
release ever issued by a Washington law firm: Cutler accused the students
of "McCarthyism" for believing that they had a "divine monopoly on knowing
where the public interest lies." Washington law firms thrive on fat fees and
behind-the-scenes fixes; they aren't used to public accountability. This
book includes one chapter each on Covington and Burling, Clark Clifford,
Arnold and Porter, Thomas G. Corcoran, lawyers who deal with regulatory
agencies, the firm of Mudge, Rose, Guthrie and Alexander, lawyer-lobbyists
who influence legislation, and the new phenomenon of public interest law.
When Goulden wrote this book he was a liberal who wrote for Harper's,
Ramparts, and The Nation, in addition to books on the Tonkin Gulf incident,
big business, and philanthropy. During the 1960s he had a solid reputation
as an investigative reporter, and later as Washington bureau chief, for the
Philadelphia Inquirer. Then during the 1980s he worked for Accuracy in
Media, and became a strong supporter of the U.S. intelligence community.
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