Covington & Burling, a Pfizer law firm, caught cleaning up its reputation on Wikipedia.

We recently wrote that several drug companies have been caught deleting important information from Wikipedia, in order to downplay the risk of their drugs.

Now the law firms working for the drug companies are getting caught doing the same thing and we got this story from the outstanding blog ClinPsych.

Covington & Burling, one of the largest white-shoe law firms in the country, representing AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Schering-Plough and Pfizer, just got caught very red handed deleting Wikipedia entries about the firm like crazy. Seems like them lawyers aren't that smart after all . . .

[Update, here is another Pfizer law firm we found doing hilarious edits: Ropes & Gray, yet another Pfizer law firm caught changing Wikipedia. Click on link to learn about their  "epic parties," "phenomenal dining," "summer of ecstacy," and even "cool summer associates" like Seth Piken and his office-mate, "the jerk."]

If you want to see for yourself what the glorious lawyers at Covington & Burling have been up to, go here. If you just want the facts, keep on reading:

One entry deleted was the connection between Covington & Burling and secret societes:

There have been many connections drawn between Covington & Burling and the Skull & Bones or Illuminati. One notable connection is William P. Bundy who started out his career in 1947 working for Covington & Burling. In 1951 Bundy quit Covington & Burling to begin openly working for the CIA as an analyst, and then as assistant to the deputy director of the CIA.

                                                          

Another deletion dealt with Covington & Burlings involvment with mad cows and toxic smoke:

In April 2004, the Washington DC newspaper The Hill reported: "Creekstone Farms Quality Beef, which has been battling the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get permission to test its cattle for mad cow disease, has hired Covington & Burling to help it make its case."[2]

At the time, Creekstone was one of two U.S. beef producers who were seeking to resume exports to Japan, South Korea and other countries by testing every head of cattle they processed for mad cow disease.

According to a September 2003 press release from the firm, Covington & Burling successfully argued on behalf of the Southern Peru Copper Corporation to drop a lawsuit brought against it under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) by Peruvian citizens charging the copper company with polluting communities and causing health problems. ATCA has been used to address serious human rights violations in places like Burma and East Timor. In their release, Covington & Burling decried the "aggressive, expansionist plaintiffs' litigation" under ATCA.[3]

Covington & Burling also served as corporate affairs consultants to the Philip Morris group of companies, according to a 1993 internal budget review document which indicated the firm was paid $280,000 to "serve as general counsel to the Consumer Products Company Tort Coalition, agree the legal objectives with member company litigators, draft legislation and amendments, prepare lobby papers and testimony for legislative committees and administer the coalition's budget". [4]

During the $280 billion U.S. federal lawsuit against big tobacco, Covington & Burling partner John Rupp, a former lawyer with the industry-funded Tobacco Institute, testified that "the industry sought out scientists and paid them to make an 'objective appraisal' of whether secondhand smoke was harmful to non-smokers, a move they hoped would dispel the 'extreme views' of some anti-smoking activists." He "said the scientists, who came from prestigious institutions such as Georgetown University and the University of Massachusetts, did not consider themselves to be working 'on behalf' of cigarette makers even though they were being paid by the industry." Rupp said, "We were paying them to share their views in forums where they would be usefully presented," according to Reuters. [5]

Something else the Covington people didn't like was for people to learn their association with Halliburton and the following was deleted:

In 2003 Halliburton hired the firm to lobby Washington on behalf of its KBR Government Operations division, the same division being pummeled by the media, the Pentagon and Congress for its handling of Iraq contracts. Covington & Burling was paid $520,000 to handle "inquiries concerning company's construction and service contracts in Iraq," the firm said in a filing.

According to the filing, Covington & Burling listed the following people as lobbyists for Halliburton/KBR: Roderick A. DeArment, who was chief of staff to now-retired Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS); Martin B. Gold, former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN); Stuart E. Eizenstat, U.S. ambassador to the European Union during the Clinton administration; Alan A. Pemberton, coordinator of the firm's government contracts practice; David M. Marchick, who served in various posts in the Clinton administration; Jack L. Schenendorf; Peter Flanagan; Jennifer Plitsch; Benjamin J. Razi; and Allegra Lane.

Halliburton's lobbying expenses are disclosed in documents submitted under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, which requires congressional and executive branch lobbyists to disclose their lobbying activities twice per year. Each year the information is disclosed at the Senate Office of Public Records.

In 2003 Halliburton hired the firm to lobby Washington on behalf of its KBR Government Operations division, the same division being pummeled by the media, the Pentagon and Congress for its handling of Iraq contracts. Covington & Burling was paid $520,000 to handle "inquiries concerning company's construction and service contracts in Iraq," the firm said in a filing.

And Covington didn’t like this description of the firm:

Covington & Burling is a major legal and lobbying firm focused on "industry and regulatory" and "corporate, tax and benefits" issues, and litigation.[1] They have U.S. offices in Washington DC, New York City and San Francisco, and European offices in London and Brussels.

Instead, they wrote this:

Covington & Burling LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 600 lawyers practicing in Brussels, London, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. Founded in 1919, the firm advises leading multinationals on many of their most significant transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. The firm has long emphasized the strength of its Corporate and Litigation Practices derived from the firm's industry expertise acquired through its broad regulatory expertise. Representative clients include The National Football League, Microsoft, PBS, and The Washington Post. Covington's pro bono program has been recognized as preeminent in the legal community. As part of its pro bono program, the firm has rotation programs, which allow attorneys and staff to work for six months at three local legal services organizations - Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP), the Children's Law Center (CLC), or Bread for the City (BFTC).

To do your own detective work on Wikipedia use the WikiScanner.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

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