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Former congressman Howard Berman, defeated last November in that costly and bruising battle in the Valley with fellow Democrat Brad Sherman, has signed on as a senior policy adviser with the Washington firm of Covington Burling. He's not allowed to officially lobby his former colleagues in Congress for a year under House rules. The firm emphasized that it sees Berman’s experience with international affairs — he served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee for 30 years, one term as chairman — as a boon in its strategy to build global public policy expertise, the Washington Post says.
Berman...is the second congressional heavy hitter to join Covington’s ranks in less than a month as the law firm looks to expand its lobbying capabilities internationally. Last week, Covington — the District’s largest law firm with more than 500 attorneys locally — announced the addition of recently retired Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) to its lobbying team.
Berman is slated to begin March 25 and will be based out of firm’s Washington and Los Angeles offices.[skip]
“It’s obviously different, but I did spend 30 years on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Berman said of transitioning to the private sector. “In the course of this, I dealt with government leaders and industry leaders from all around the world. A lot of the contacts I’ve made, people I know and notions I have, can be helpful.”
After losing to Sherman in November, Berman capped his Congress career by proposing a massive overhaul of the way the United States approaches foreign aid.
