Rendell returning to his old law firm

Returning to the politically influential law firm where he practiced before his election as governor in 2002, former Gov. Ed Rendell has joined Ballard Spahr of Center City as a partner.

The firm, which made the announcement Monday, said Rendell would focus on advising clients on public-private partnerships, infrastructure, health care, environmental law, and other practice areas.

In joining Ballard Spahr, Rendell returns to a law firm that served as his professional home after he left office as mayor of Philadelphia in December 1999 and before he took office as governor in 2003. The firm has deep Democratic Party ties, and it performed substantial legal work for the state and other public entities during Rendell's two terms as governor.

Among its most prominent partners is John Estey, Rendell's former chief of staff in Harrisburg. A former managing partner of the firm is senior Comcast executive David Cohen, who was chief of staff to Rendell while he was mayor.

Ballard, a 475-lawyer firm, has 13 offices nationally and represents a wide range of public- and private-sector clients.

Rendell will surely raise Ballard's profile and aid in the firm's efforts to market itself. Like other politically engaged firms in the city, Ballard has benefited over the years from its involvement with government and political leaders by gaining public- sector work.

But a focus on government work also can produce strains.

The firm became the focus of unflattering attention last year after it was disclosed that its lawyers had failed to detect alleged conflicts of interest in the development of a $200 million Family Court building in Philadelphia.

Ballard served as real estate counsel to the project but said it was unaware that a lawyer for another firm hired by the Supreme Court to find a site for the building also had partnered with the developer of the project, raising conflict questions.

More recently, the Philadelphia Housing Authority was served with a subpoena by the inspector general of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development requesting that it turn over invoices and documentation for work done for the agency by Ballard and five other Philadelphia law firms.

The subpoena followed revelations that the authority had secretly paid three women $648,000 to settle sexual-harassment charges against former executive director Carl R. Greene.

The announcement that Rendell had joined Ballard came as the Politico website reported that the former governor was close to signing a deal with MSNBC to become a "regular political contributor for the 2012 campaign cycle."