Brian Williams Taps Media Elite Go-To Partner at Williams & Connolly

By Nell Gluckman February 13, 2015

Correction, 2/20/15, 1:54 PM EST: An earlier version of this story misstate the number of partners at Williams & Connolly. There are 121. The story has been revised accordingly. Brian Williams, the embattled anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News,” has retained Williams & Connolly’s Robert Barnett to help negoti- ate his future at the network, according to a source close to Williams. Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Barnett represented Williams in talks with Brian Williams NBC executives that resulted in a six-month that he could return to his position, the story suspension without pay for the beleaguered reports. broadcaster, who was forced to apologize last Assisting Williams through the negotiations week for falsely claiming that he was on board was Barnett, who has carved out a unique repu- a Chinook helicopter that was fired upon and tation in Washington, D.C., as a cross between forced down in Iraq in 2003. corporate lawyer, book agent and contract nego- NBC officials considered, but stopped short tiator for his high-profile clients in politics and of, firing Williams, according to a story in The the media. Barnett declined to comment for this Washington Post about the negotiations. But story, but according to his profile on Williams the deal wasn’t an outright win for Williams, & Connolly’s website, he “represents major who sought but did not receive a promise corporations in litigation matters, corporate work, contract, crisis management, transactions, Sanjay Gupta and Christiane Amanpour. government relations and media relations.” Among his corporate clients are McDonalds, But he is perhaps better known for his work General Electric, Comcast, Toyota and counseling high-profile politicians and media Deutsche Bank. (Comcast owns NBC’s par- personalities as they seek book deals or to ent company NBCUniversal, whose general extract themselves from their very public jobs. counsel Kimberley Harris is also involved in A 2004 New York Times profile describes the network’s ongoing internal investigation Barnett as a “consummate insider” with close of Williams.) personal and professional relationships on Although the small but storied Williams & both sides of the aisle. Connolly has garnered a reputation for coun- Indeed, The Washington Post points out seling celebrities, the Washington, D.C.- that Barnett previously represented NBC based firm has also been at the center of News President Deborah Turness, who made some of the highest-profile scandals of the the announcement about Williams’ suspen- 20th century. sion. The source close to Williams says the Williams & Connolly attorneys represent- negotiations over the anchor’s contract were ed Oliver North, former deputy-director of not with Turness. the National Security Council during the Barnett’s client list is riddled with recogniz- Iran-contra scandal in the late 1980s and able names. For book deals, he’s represented during his impeachment trial in President , former Presidents 1999. The 275-attorney firm, which has only Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Secretary of one office, boasts on its website that all but State , Washington Post edi- one of its partners were trained at the firm tor Bob Woodard, former Alaska Gov. Sarah and promoted from within during the past Palin and former British Prime Minister Tony 25 years. Blair, among others. In addition to Williams, the television per- sonalities Barnett’s worked for include CBS’ “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl and CNN’s

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