Why Might Mierss Business Litigation Background Be Significant?
Like Justice John Roberts, Harriet Miers comes to the court from what has been described as a “corporate” law firm background. Before she switched to government employment under her mentor George W. Bush, Miers spent almost all of her legal career at the same large Dallas firm, Locke Purnell Rain Harrell (later renamed Locke Liddell & Sapp, after a merger). Miers was a litigator, although not the type who often ended up in front of a jury. Indeed, her expertise, like that of so many corporate litigators, was in making sure that her clients never saw a jury – either because the cases against them were dismissed on the law or on the facts, or because an acceptable settlement was reached. Miers tackled the entire spectrum of commercial issues firsthand. She defended Texas car dealers against price-fixing charges. She challenged claims that Microsoft had sold defective software. She protected Walt Disney’s trademarks. And she took on consumers who sued mortgage companies for violating debt
