 At a lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill with other administration officials, he saw documents showing the administration's role in the Iran–Contra affair of 1986.After his government service, in 1988 he entered private practice in the office of McGuire Woods.In 1990 he became a partner at Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman), where he headed the firm's Constitutional and Government Litigation Group.