Legal News

Before Carcieri v. Kempthorne, It?s Olson v. Larisa

By Dan Slater

Joseph Larisa, Jr. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Firms that tout Supreme Court practices must sell their clients on the idea that their experience standing before the justices not only merits a hefty fee, but gives the client a better chance of victory than it would have with the lawyer who argued the case through the lower courts.

Over at the BLT blog, Tony Mauro has been tracking a dispute that brings this issue to the fore. In Carcieri v. Kempthorne, an Indian land case that’s scheduled for argument on Nov. 3., the governor and attorney general of Rhode Island want to put the fate of the case in the hands of Gibson Dunn’s Ted Olson (pictured, right). That’s understandable. According to his firm bio, Olson has argued 49 Supreme Court cases. (This Providence Journal article suggests Olson was hired for $200,000 after the Court granted cert in the case.)

In the opposite corner, looking slightly greener, is Joseph Larisa (pictured, left). He’s been arguing the case for the state of Rhode Island and the town of Charlestown, where the parcel of land sits, for a decade. Charlestown wants Larisa, its Indian affairs staff lawyer, to argue instead.

“I know this case far better than Ted,” Larisa told the BLT blog on Tuesday, after the Supreme Court denied motions for dividing argument time among the three Rhode Island entities.

In today’s Providence Journal article today, Rhode Island’s chief justice Frank Williams supported Larisa, who’s argued the case for the state and the town for a decade. “He’s one of our best appellate lawyers,” Williams said.

A spokesman for the state AG’s office told the Providence Journal: “The only thing that has made this the controversy that is it is Joe Larisa’s ego, which is astounding.” The spokesman also referred to Larisa as an “oppositional, defiant toddler.”

Larisa told the BLT blog that he either wants to resolve the issue with a coin toss or a moot court competition. If the parties opt for the latter, we hope the Law Blog will get an invite.

LB Readers: What’s more important — experience in the case, or experience before the Court?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 09, 2008 (boomark / email).