It’s been a little more than 40 years since the Watergate break-in that led to the toppling of the presidency of Richard Nixon. For Bingham McCutchen partner James Hamilton, it also marked the beginning of a long legal career.
As assistant chief counsel of the Senate Watergate Committee, Hamilton’s main assignment was the investigation of the break-in and cover-up. The watershed moment came with the testimony of Alexander Butterfield, the deputy assistant to Nixon. It was Butterfield who revealed the existence of the Nixon White House tapes. “This changed the course of the investigation, and it is fair to say, the course of history,” Hamilton said. But for all of the controversy surrounding the investigation, it involved a true bipartisan effort.
