I commented on the so-called “block billing” matter acouple weeks ago:  the congressional investigation of the possibilitythat Amtrak was paying legal bills that looked a lot like 99.9998% ofthe legal bills sent to major corporations.  Law.com is now reporting that the new CEO at Amtrak has replaced the general counsel along with most of the rest of the senior management team.  “New Amtrak President Alex Kummant engineered a major managementrestructuring Monday, firing five top officials and naming EleanorAcheson [right], assistant attorney general for policy development underPresident Bill Clinton, as the passenger rail’s general counsel.”

Of course, the news stories have linked the two.  Note the Law.com headline: 

Amtrak Fires Five in Midst of Congressional Probe

That points out the need, particularly in our information age, not to believe everything you read.  I can’t help but think the linkage to block billing is a case of the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.  And the response from Amtrak seems plausible to me:

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black says the changes were not a response tothe inspector general’s report on its legal department. “I can’tassociate it directly with the report. Corporate reorganizations arecommon under new CEOs. This is no different than that of any otherlarge corporation under new leadership.”

What is more interesting are the career bona fides of this new general counsel for a major business corporation.  According to Law.com, Acheson headed the Justice Department office responsible for reviewing federaljudgeship nominees under Clinton, and since then has been a government affairs lawyer for a prominent public interest group.  Worthy pursuits all, and I’m sure Acheson is a crackerjack lawyer, but this hire suggests the critical legal job at Amtrak is about lobbying, not business.

[Jeff Lipshaw]