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A longtime companion on the Washington legislation agency Williams & Connolly, Barnett was the go-to lawyer for politicians and public officers shifting into non-public life
Robert Barnett, a Washington lawyer who represented highly effective politicians and most of the greatest stars in TV information enterprise, died Friday after a protracted, unspecified sickness. He was 79.
Barnett’s dying in a Washington hospital was confirmed by his spouse, retired CBS Information correspondent Rita Braver.
A longtime companion on the Washington legislation agency Williams & Connolly, Barnett was the go-to lawyer for politicians and public officers shifting into non-public life. He helped procure multimillion-dollar ebook contracts for former Presidents Obama, Clinton and George W. Bush.
Barnett was a Democratic political insider as properly. He would play opposing candidates in mock debates to assist put together the presidential tickets of Al Gore and Joe Lieberman in 2000, John Kerry and John Edwards in 2004, Hillary Clinton when she first ran for president in 2008, and Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.
“I baited [Ferraro] rather a lot and he or she bought so offended with me that she steadily walked over to me and slugged me on the arm,” Barnett advised CNN in 2008. “So I left the method black and blue.”
Barnett was additionally Invoice Clinton’s debate sparring companion in the course of the 1992 presidential marketing campaign. He additionally suggested the Clintons when White Home aide and household pal Vince Foster killed himself in 1993 and when the world realized that Invoice Clinton had an affair with White Home intern Monica Lewinsky.
Barnett’s TV information consumer checklist included former NBC Information anchor Brian Williams, “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl, CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, Chris Wallace, NBC Information correspondent Andrea Mitchell, and Jesse Watters and Peter Doocy at Fox Information. He additionally represented his spouse, whom he married in 1972.
Barnett additionally navigated Ann Curry’s messy exit from NBC’s “At the moment” in 2012.
As an lawyer, Barnett was recognized for his capacity to give you offers tailor-made to the wants of his shoppers.
“Many of those individuals who come out of presidency have an infinite variety of gives,” Barnett advised the Monetary Occasions in 2008. “The very first thing we do is sit down and say: ‘What are your targets? Do you wish to dwell right here or there? You wanna earn a living or have enjoyable?’”
One motive many consumers gravitated to Barnett is that, in contrast to brokers, he didn’t take a fee. They paid a excessive hourly fee for his providers, not the normal agent charges of 10% to fifteen% of salaries or ebook advances.
Barnett’s shoppers believed he gave them 100% no matter their stature.
“Bob represented me in my negotiations with ABC and made me really feel simply as necessary as his extra celebrated shoppers,” retired correspondent Judy Muller wrote on Fb. “A extremely respectable, sensible man.”
The sentiment was shared by CBS Information Government Editor Susan Zirinsky.
“Each one that labored with Bob knew their secrets and techniques have been secure,” Zirinsky mentioned in an interview. “He was the last word protector.”
Barnett additionally drew reward from the businesses that paid the profitable contracts for his TV shoppers.
“His pristine integrity, sensible counsel and data of our enterprise have been a useful useful resource to me over the course of our 30-year relationship,” Suzanne Scott, chief government of Fox Information Media, mentioned in an announcement.
Barnett additionally represented bestselling authors James Patterson and Mary Higgins Clark.
Barnett was born in Waukegan, Ailing., the place his father operated the native Social Safety workplace and his mom labored half time in a division retailer. He majored in political science on the College of Wisconsin and obtained a legislation diploma from the College of Chicago.
He moved to Washington within the early Seventies. He clerked for Supreme Courtroom Justice Byron White and labored as an aide to then-Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota. He joined Williams & Connolly in 1975, and was made a companion three years later.
Along with his spouse, he’s survived by a daughter, Meredith Barnett; a sister; and three grandchildren.
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