Following a barrage of criticism of King & Spalding’s withdrawal from defending the Defense of Marriage Act two weeks ago, the Washington, D.C., office managing partner has accepted responsibility for what he called an “unfortunate misunderstanding” and “breakdown in communications” that led former partner Paul D. Clement to contract with the U.S. House of Representatives to defend the law.
Other than a short statement on April 25 by firm chairman Robert D. Hays Jr. calling the vetting process inadequate, the statement by J. Sedwick “Wick” Sollers gives the first insight that the firm has offered publicly into how it came to defend DOMA, only to withdraw from the case 11 days later.
