THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES ARE FOR

LOS ANGELES - Although collaborations happen all the time in pop
music, they do not generally involve R & B hitmakers and Senator
Orrin G. Hatch.

But the release of a music producer from a Dubai jail this week,
quick on the heels of his conviction for drug possession, turns out
to be a story of high-level string-pulling on the part of Mr. Hatch,
the conservative Utah Republican and songwriter, along with Lionel
Richie, the singer; Quincy Jones, the music entrepreneur; and an
array of well-connected lawyers, businessmen and others, spanning
cities and continents.

Dallas Austin, 35, who has produced hits for Madonna, Janet Jackson
and others, flew home to Atlanta on Wednesday, after being released
after midnight on Tuesday from a holding cell in a Dubai jail. Hours
earlier Mr. Austin had been sentenced to four years in prison for
carrying just over a gram of cocaine with him when he entered the
country on May 19 to attend a birthday celebration for Naomi Campbell.

Senator Hatch made numerous phone calls on Mr. Austin's behalf to the
ambassador and consul of the United Arab Emirates embassy in
Washington -- Dubai is one of the seven emirates -- and served as an
intermediary for Mr. Austin's representatives, the producer's lawyers said.

"The senator was one of a number of people who were very actively
involved," said Joe Reeder, the Washington lawyer, who, with an
Atlanta colleague, Joel A. Katz, spent 10 days in Dubai working to
secure Mr. Austin's reprieve.

Mr. Katz, an entertainment lawyer, represents both Mr. Austin and the
somewhat less musically successful Mr. Hatch, a singer and songwriter
who has recorded religious-oriented albums. After hiring Mr. Katz's
firm, the senator last year took in $39,092 in income from music
publishing, according to financial documents filed in May under the
Ethics in Government Act.

The senator declined to be interviewed or to confirm details of his
efforts on Mr. Austin's behalf, but he issued a statement
acknowledging his involvement and said he was asked by Mr. Austin's
lawyers to help.

A spokesman for Mr. Hatch said that the senator was a proponent of
rehabilitation for drug offenders, and that he had worked to revise
federal sentencing guidelines regarding cocaine, and, through
legislation in 2005, had advocated treatment for nonviolent offenders
and the easing of restrictions on medication to treat heroin addiction.

In the statement Mr. Hatch said he was "confident that this talented
young man will learn from this experience." He did not say if he
requested that Mr. Austin seek treatment.

Until word of the pardon came through in a call to the One and Only
Royal Mirage hotel along the Dubai beach, where Mr. Austin's lawyers
waited nervously for news of their client's fate, the release of Mr.
Austin was not a certainty.

"This involved multiple ambassadors, a prime minister, a prince,
Lionel Richie, the senator and religious leaders in Atlanta," Mr. Reeder said.

"The uniting factor of all these people -- the religious leaders, the
political leaders, entertainment figures and prominent private
citizens -- was humanitarian considerations," he said. "Where should
this man be under these circumstances?"

Randy Phillips, Mr. Richie's manager, said Mr. Austin "happened to
know the right people, and better than that, the right people were
ready to step out on a limb for him, which doesn't happen that often."

Although Mr. Phillips called the efforts on Mr. Austin's behalf "the
difference between going home and being in 'Midnight Express' " --
referring to the harrowing 1978 film about a novice American drug
smuggler forsaken in the Turkish prison system -- such pardons are
not a rarity in Dubai, authorities said.

Mr. Austin's troubles began on May 19, when he landed in Dubai for
the three-day birthday party of Ms. Campbell at the opulent Burj Al
Arab hotel. While far from a household name, Mr. Austin is a leading
figure in the pop music world who has worked with artists including
Gwen Stefani, Michael Jackson, Pink, TLC and, lately, Mr. Richie.

According to published accounts, the police at the airport pulled Mr.
Austin aside at customs and searched him, finding a small amount of
cocaine. He was taken into custody and held at a detention center,
the al-Rashidiya jail.

Several of the principal players in the negotiation recounted what
followed, including Mr. Austin's lawyers, Mr. Richie and Mr. Phillips.

Almost immediately, several parallel initiatives were undertaken to
try to influence the United Arab Emirates government to show clemency
to Mr. Austin, his lawyers said.

Mr. Katz, of the firm Greenberg Traurig, hired three local lawyers,
two from Dubai, and one from neighboring Bahrain, who ensured the
reduction of the initial charge of drug trafficking to mere
possession, the lawyers said. Drug trafficking can carry a life
sentence in the United Arab Emirates, while possession carries a much
shorter jail sentence. Discussions began over securing a pardon for
Mr. Austin, focusing on the argument that he had carried only a small
amount of drugs for personal use.

Mr. Katz also contacted colleagues, including Mr. Reeder in Greenberg
Traurig's Washington office. A senior lawyer in the same office,
Nancy Taylor, worked for many years on Mr. Hatch's staff in the
Senate. Ms. Taylor enlisted Mr. Hatch, who is influential in Dubai
because of his support for the United Arab Emirates-based company DP
World in the controversy earlier this year over its contract to
manage important American ports.

At the time of the controversy earlier this year, which resulted in
the jettisoning of the contract, Mr. Hatch said the United Arab
Emirates was a good friend to the United States. "We don't want to
kick the moderate Arab nations in the face," he said at the time.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jones, the legendary producer, and his friend Joe
Robert, a Virginia real estate investor with interests in the Persian
Gulf, became involved. Mr. Jones has played mentor to an array of
current young pop and R&B stars, including Mr. Austin. Mr. Robert is
also a friend of Mr. Austin's.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Robert began making calls to their contacts in the
Middle East, including senior officials in the United Arab Emirates.
Reached this week on a yacht off the coast of Spain, where he was
with Mr. Jones, Mr. Robert said: "I know Dallas Austin; I consider
him a very fine, upstanding individual, notwithstanding the mistake
he made." He added, "This is not someone that belongs in a prison anywhere."

Meanwhile, other efforts continued, including a call from Mr. Katz to
Prince Abdullah of neighboring Bahrain, and from Mr. Reeder to former
Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was consulted for a
legal reference. Some of the principals said they believed that Mr.
Austin's pardon had been secured from early on. Still, uncertainty
weighed heavily on others, particularly Mr. Austin's lawyers.

Enter Mr. Richie, who enjoys a cult status throughout much of the
Arab world and had performed twice this year in Dubai, where he has
met various senior government officials.

In an interview Mr. Richie said that Mr. Austin's advisers arranged
for the United Arab Emirate's consul in Washington, Abdulla Ali
Alsaboosi, to call Mr. Richie for a character reference. "It was,
'Tell me what kind of guy is Dallas Austin,' " Mr. Richie said. "I
said: 'Listen, this is a great guy. A gangster, a hoodlum, a thug, he's not.' "

Last Sunday Mr. Austin pleaded guilty to possessing 1.26 grams of
cocaine and capsules of Ecstasy, telling the court he did not mean to
break the law. The stage was set for a pardon by the ruler of Dubai,
Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. It came four hours after the
plea, Mr. Austin's lawyers recalled. What remained was to execute the edict.

But that didn't happen until after the sentencing on Tuesday morning.
Shortly after midnight, as American revelers half a world away
celebrated Independence Day, Mr. Katz and Mr. Reeder got the call at
their beachside hotel.

The lawyers quickly gathered their things and rushed to the airport,
where they met Mr. Austin and boarded the next flight to New York.

On Friday Mr. Austin released a statement that said in part: "This
unfortunate experience has had a profound effect on me, and I regret
any grief caused to my family, friends and business associates."

The Dubai government gave no reason for the pardon. "In an issue like
this it is not unusual," said Lt. General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, head
of Dubai Police, who said he was speaking in general terms and could
not discuss the case in detail. "It is preferable to me that a
foreigner who is caught in something like this be returned home
rather than be kept here in prison for four years, costing us lots of
resources."

Mr. Tamim noted, however, that Mr. Austin had technically been
deported and would most likely not be allowed to return to Dubai.