Will John Street's casino counselor counsel casinos?

Flaster/Greenberg, P.C., the Cherry Hill law firm making inroads in Center City, issued a splashy press release last week announcing its new Government Relations and Regulatory Law Practice, "designed to assist clients through the administrative, regulatory and legislative processes of local and state governments in Pennsylvania and New Jersey." Here in City Hall we call that lobbying, though the legal side of it still counts as lawyering.

The practice is co-chaired by attorneys Abbe F. Fletman and Kevin Greenberg, who have a wealth of legal/political experience, both as County Counsel for the Obama/Biden campaign last year, and Fletman also as campaign counsel to Gov. Rendell, Mayor John F. Street, and Sen. John Kerry and former Vice-President Al Gore in their presidential bids.

But Heard in City Hall wanted to know whether Greenberg, who served as Mayor Street's chief deputy solicitor and was also Street's point-man on casinos, and it would seem natural for him to look for casino clients. "We would be happy to represent casinos in Pennsylvania or New Jersey presuming we can navigate any conflict issues," said Greenberg.

If the firm were to be hired by SugarHouse or Foxwoods casinos, the two Philadelphia entities which have been struggling for two years to overcome political and regulatory obstacles to build slots parlors here, Greenberg would have to make sure his previous work for the city didn't give him confidential information on a particular issue. Greenberg, who is well beyond the city's one-year lobbying restriction for former employees, said the group has not done any work for either casino entity.

Flaster/Greenberg was founded in Cherry Hill in 1972 and now has 17 lawyers in Philadelphia. Kevin Greenberg is unrelated to Stephen Greenberg, for whom the firm is name.

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