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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburgh has lost two of its lobbyists who have been linked to a congressional bribery and corruption scandal surrounding jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Kevin A. Ring resigned Friday from the Washington, D.C., office, managing partner Alan Levin said. This comes more than a year after another lobbyist, Neil Volz, severed his ties with the firm ;s Washington office.
The resignation comes amid an ongoing corruption investigation with congressional ties, and Ring ;s background working at Abramoff ;s law firm in Florida has surfaced in media reports in past years. Before joining Barnes & Thornburg in 2005, Ring had worked for Abramoff at Florida law firm Greenberg Traurig.
Ring ;s attorney, Richard A. Hibey at Miller & Chevalier in Washington, D.C., did not return messages this morning.
“There has never been a suggestion that any of the lobbying activities under investigation occurred at Barnes & Thornburg,” Levin said. “All of these issues occurred before (they) came to the law firm, and we see this as having no effect on our ability to continue to deliver the same services we have been. We have a strong practice, and we ;ll continue to have that strong presence, both locally and in Washington.”
About 10 people work in the firm ;s Washington, D.C., office in the lobbying practice, Levin said, as well as a number of lobbyists and attorneys based in Indianapolis. Another Abramoff lobbyist – of counsel Edward Ayoob – remains with the firm ;s Washington, D.C., office and has not been implicated in the scandal, Levin said.
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