D.A.—Gil Garcetti may be behind Steve Cooley in the polls, but he’s ahead in getting money from blue-chip lawyers

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Senior attorneys at many of the county’s largest and most prestigious law firms are backing L.A. District Attorney Gil Garcetti by an overwhelming margin over challenger Steve Cooley in the district attorney’s race, third-quarter campaign finance statements reveal, despite Garcetti trailing badly in the polls.

Dozens of L.A.’s most powerful attorneys have cast their lot with Garcetti, while only a handful have sided with Cooley.

In large part, the attorneys who work at the big law firms downtown or in Century City are backing Garcetti because during the last eight years they have established good working relationships with him. Garcetti has gone out of his way to cultivate those firms, and the attorneys enjoy the access he has given them.

Despite Cooley’s lead in the polls which has ranged anywhere from 9 to 22 points and an almost 2-to-1 edge in the overall number of contributions, the challenger is largely an unknown factor to these attorneys. And he has made a point in his campaign of saying he will not grant any special access to major law firms or special interests.

“I prefer to go with the known quantity,” said Marshall Grossman, a name partner with Alschuler, Grossman, Stein & Kahan LLP in Century City who has contributed $500 to Garcetti’s campaign. “Besides, like most attorneys I know, I don’t give my endorsement by putting my finger in the air and seeing which way the wind is blowing.”

While Grossman and other senior attorneys at major corporate law firms may not have too many cases before the District Attorney whose office mostly handles criminal cases there are times when such familiarity does come in handy. Blue-chip firms have blue-chip clients, from entertainment celebrities to Fortune 500 companies, that occasionally get into trouble or just need a helping hand with the law. And during his eight years as D.A., Garcetti has received more than a few calls on such delicate matters.

“It’s nice to have access if someone gets into trouble,” said a senior partner at a large downtown law firm, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Maybe one client’s CEO has a relative who was stopped for drunk driving or was in an accident. I can call up Gil and ask, ‘Who should I talk to?’ He’ll tell me which deputy I should call and then I call and say, ‘Gil suggested I call you.'”

What’s more, unlike other elected offices where political payback is often the rule, there is a widespread perception among attorneys that there will be few consequences in backing the wrong candidate should Garcetti lose.

No threat of payback

“This is not the fast-and-loose world of legislative politics where payback for supporting or not supporting someone is common,” said Lisa Specht, a partner in the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP who has given $1,000 to Garcetti. “I do not have a concern that I’m going to receive some negative payback down the line if Cooley happens to win. The District Attorney’s Office is too professional to have something like that occur.”

Despite all the support Garcetti is getting from attorneys at big-name law firms, he still trails Cooley in the overall fund-raising race.

From the March 7 primary election through the filing period ended Sept. 30, Cooley raised $768,482. Garcetti, meanwhile, raised $686,047 between Feb. 20 and Sept. 30 (his campaign filings did not separate out contributions made before the March 7 primary.)

Cooley’s main base of financial support consists of current and former deputy district attorneys, some judges and attorneys at small law firms. And Cooley, a registered Republican (although the district attorney’s post is non-partisan), has also been able to tap into the area’s Republican base.

Contributions to the Cooley campaign tend to be smaller on average than those to the Garcetti campaign, a fact Cooley himself is proud of.

“I have a lot of small contributors who give less than $100 and thus don’t have to be reported,” Cooley said. “I’ve won their support because I have campaigned on the promise that I will not be beholden to the special interests, who are often represented by the very law firms you are writing about.”

Garcetti, meanwhile, has tapped into major law firms like Loeb & Loeb LLP; Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue; and Latham & Watkins. A glance through his filing reads like a Who’s Who of Los Angeles, from the three Dreamworks SKG founding partners Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen to former SunAmerica Inc. Chairman Eli Broad to Los Angeles Dodgers Chairman Robert Daly.

Personal visits

Garcetti said he has visited the area’s major law firms on a regular basis.

“I will spend a lunch or a dinner with firm members and get their feedback on the job my office is doing,” Garcetti said. “I tell them what areas we’re working on and they tell me what areas they would like to see me work on.

“For example,” Garcetti continued, “I had to sell them on gang injunctions, since our office did not have the civil expertise in injunction law. These major law firms really stepped up to the plate, working with our lawyers for hundreds of hours on a pro-bono basis to put together the civil injunctions.

“And on the flip side, one law firm in the Latino community said there was almost nothing being done on immigration fraud. So we started looking into it,” he added.

Garcetti acknowledged that, come campaign time, he or his staff go back to these firms and ask for their support. “They are under no obligation to contribute,” he said.

On the other hand, Cooley said that, if elected, he would grant no “special access” to the major downtown and Century City law firms; in fact, he says, he barely knows these firms.

“I don’t know those guys at the big downtown law firms. It has not been my pattern or practice to associate with them,” he said. “My relationship with them will be based on the facts of a particular case. They will be treated no differently than any other member of the public. When they get to know me, they will appreciate the fact that I’m independent.”

Cooley supporters say that sense of even-handedness is one of the factors that drew them to him.

“I’m voting for him precisely because he promises a total lack of special access by law firms and other big-moneyed interests,” said Woodland Hills attorney and former Deputy D.A. Alan Buckholtz.

Big guns for Cooley

While solo practitioners like Buckholtz show up frequently on Cooley’s contribution list, Cooley has drawn in a few attorneys from prominent law firms. Among those are former L.A. County District Attorney Robert Phillibosian, a partner at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, and Robert Bonner, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

He’s also drawn from the ranks of mid-sized law firms, like Torrance-based Okamoto, Wasserman, Ivan & Torii, LLP. Three of the partners there went to law school with Cooley.

“What you see is what you get with Steve,” said name partner Ron Wasserman. “If you talk to the people who have dealt with him, the defense attorneys, the deputy D.A.’s, they all have gotten a chance to plead their case before him. That’s all anyone can really ask for, a fair hearing.”

Even though Wasserman is backing Cooley, he sounded a note of caution for those who would write Garcetti off.

“There is too much being attributed to Garcetti’s trailing in the polls,” Wasserman said. “He’s got $1 million, much of that from very prominent people in town. He’ll be able to mount an impressive television campaign in the closing weeks. The county looks like it will vote Democratic on Nov. 7, and that’s an advantage for Garcetti, who is, of course, a Democrat. I expect the margin will narrow.” There are times when such familiarity does come in handy. Blue-chip firms have blue-chip clients, from entertainment celebrities to Fortune 500 companies, that occasionally get into trouble or just need a helping hand with the law. And during his eight years as D.A., Garcetti has received more than a few calls on such delicate matters.

While solo practitioners like Buckholtz show up frequently on Cooley’s contribution list, Cooley has drawn in a few attorneys from prominent law firms.

Among those are former L.A. County District Attorney Robert Philibosian, a partner at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, and Robert Bonner, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

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