There are new lawyers hanging out shingles and groups of lawyers combining and uncombining all the time, so it would impractical to recognize them. But when a special group joins hands to form a law firm, it’s the sort of thing that one needs to notice.  And via Tex Parte Blog, such a new bunch of guys have gotten together in Austin.

Johnny Sutton has a new gig at a new firm. Sutton, the former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, has announced that he’s starting Ashcroft Sutton & Ratcliffe in Texas. And yes, the Ashcroft in the firm’s name is John Ashcroft, U.S. attorney general during George W. Bush’s first term as president and the former Republican U.S. senator from Missouri who now heads the Ashcroft Group, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm.

According to the story, Austin will be Sutton’s base of operations. I wonder if Jamie Spencer has an extra office to rent? Sutton is probably quiet, and won’t take up too much time on the copy machine.  Of course, being a start-up, he may have some problems with getting the rent in on time.

So let’s add this up.  We’ve got a couple of United States Attorneys and an Attorney General.  They were all prosecutors of one stripe or another.  Prosecutors.  No longer prosecuting.  What do prosecutors do when they get the boot?

Murray Newman, can you be of any help on this one?  How about you, Robert Guest?  Any ideas?  Maybe Ken Lammers can add some insight?  Well, maybe not.

What makes this truly special to me is the creation of a firm made up of former government officials who wore the mantle of the righteous, dedicated to putting evil-doers in prison, which appears to offer flagrantly improper inside access to other government officials, if not the secrets within the Justice Department, for sale.  They are selling the benefits of their governmental connections.

But if that doesn’t work, they can always try to squeeze some DUIs out of Jamie, if he would toss them some of his leftovers.  They better treat Jamie well if they expect his help with their start up, of course.

More from the Wall Street Journal, which notes that with all the former Republican prosecutors unable to find legitimate jobs, the competition for selling governmental access is getting fierce.