Peter Nickles tied up the District government in court for three decades on behalf of the city’s neediest residents. But the senior counsel with Covington & Burling now hopes the entrenched problems he couldn’t solve through lawsuits can be tackled from the inside.
Nickles is joining Adrian Fenty’s administration as general counsel, the lead attorney for the mayor’s office. He is expected to have a major say in how the District goes about improving care for the indigent.
A corporate lawyer by trade, Nickles has taken on a long list of pro bono cases with D.C. as the defendant.
In Dixon v. Barry, first filed in 1974, Nickles forced the District’s office for the mentally ill into a court-ordered receivership. In John Doe v. District of Columbia, he led the cause to reduce violence and alleviate overcrowding at the D.C. Jail. He’s represented prisoners in the now shuttered Lorton Prison and youths confined to Oak Hill.
“There are very serious systemic issues within these agencies,” Nickles said. “I know where the problems are. I know where the secrets are.”
Nickles lives on a horse farm in Great Falls but has pledged to move into the District. He is a longtime friend of the Fenty family, and ran marathons and triathlons with the mayor-elect’s father. He also advised Fenty when the young lawyer faced discipline from the D.C. Bar for his handling of probate cases.
