Barry Richard, the Greenberg Traurig lawyer who achieved fame for his successful representation of George Bush in the Bush v. Gore recount suits, is set to give a speech blasting the Bush administration Saturday night.
Richard will be the keynote speaker at the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys' annual conference starting Thursday and running through Saturday at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla.
More than 100 former U.S. Attorneys are expected to attend the conference, which will also feature a panel discussion on the controversial U.S. Attorney firings by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. That panel -- scheduled for Saturday afternoon -- will feature two of the eight former U.S. Attorneys who were allegedly fired over politics last year: David Iglesias, former U.S. Attorney in New Mexico and John McCay, former U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Washington.
Additionally, James Eisenstein, a law professor at Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law, will serve on the panel.
The conference requires preregistration.
But the session that is expected to ignite the most fireworks is the dinner speech by Richard. Richard said in an interview he has never spoken out against the Bush administration before and that he did not reveal the topic of his speech when asked to speak by NAFUSA.
"I'm sure people will see my name on the program and expect I will be defending the administration," said Richard, a Tallahassee, Fla., lawyer.
"But I'm a constitutional lawyer. I am concerned with the Bush administration's assault on American liberties ... how the administration deals with habeas corpus and the administration's posture on electronic surveillance. This administration has gone farther than any other."
Richard, a longtime Democrat, said he doubts his public stance Saturday will cost him any jobs but hopes it will gain him some. "The Republicans didn't hire me cause they liked my views, they hired me for my legal abilities, and I assume they would again," he said.
However, Richard acknowledged that he has had few jobs representing Democrats since the highly publicized 2000 case and he chafes at being viewed as "a Republican mouthpiece."
"What I was proud of was that before 2000 I represented both parties," he said. "I would like to get back to neutral."
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