The contract is similar in form to that signed by Clement on behalf of King and Spalding, whose firm chairman said in a statement last week that a vetting process for taking the case had been "inadequate." It includes provisions prohibiting firm employees from advocacy that would "alter or amend the Defense of Marriage Act."

The hourly rate of $520 for legal work remains the same. A "cap" of $500,000 for legal services -- one derided as misleading and well below the overall amount needed to mount an adequate legal defense in the current challenges to DOMA -- also remains in the contract.