A change of address for Alberto Gonzales?

As legal layoffs sweep the nation, we can report that there’s one attorney out there who has actually landed a new job. Bloomberg reported today that former U.S. attorney general and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales was appointed assistant to the special master in a federal patent case in East Texas that’s before U.S. District Judge David Folsom. Gonzales will offer his expertise to special master (and former U.S. District Judge) Layn R. Phillips, a litigation partner in the SoCal firm Irell & Manella. Phillips is overseeing settlement talks in DataTreasury Corp. v. Wells Fargo & Co., et al., which involves the rights of various banks to use digital check technology. Just what is Al's expertise, especially given that when he was a partner in Vinson & Elkins years ago he practiced real estate law? At least one East Texas patent pro is stumped. “The intersection of his experience with this particular case is beyond me, but maybe someone thinks he’ll be helpful,” says Marshall lawyer Michael C. Smith, a partner in Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith and the author of EDTexweblog.com (read Smith’s own post here). “Just when you thought things couldn’t get any stranger out here,” Smith adds with a laugh. Why choose Gonzales to help a retired judge mediate a case in Texarkana involving a bunch of banks -- and not one of the hundreds of lawyers who have worked with Folsom on complex litigation cases over the past 15 years?  Smith’s stumped. But he trusts there’s a method to the madness, noting that Folsom once prohibited the lawyers in a case from leaving Texarkana until a settlement was reached. “Judge Folsom can twist some arms, he’s very effective at getting cases settled, in my opinion,” Smith says. So Tex Parte readers, do you think Gonzales will return to Texas for good? Regardless, he needs to update his contact info on the State Bar of Texas Web site, which as of this blog posting still lists Gonzales as working at the U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C., 20530. According to the State Bar site, Gonzales' profile was "last certified" on March 19, 2007.

-- Jenny B. Davis