June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was forced from his job amid a controversy over the firings of federal prosecutors, has been hired to provide assistance to a special master on a patent case.

Gonzales will help former U.S. District Judge Layn R. Phillips oversee settlement talks in the case of a Texas company which claims banks such as Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank and Bank of America Corp. are violating its patents for taking and transmitting digital images of checks.

Phillips, in an order signed yesterday, said he needed Gonzales's help because of the number of parties in the case and the ``overall complexity of this litigation.''

The judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge David Folsom in Marshall, Texas, ``has no objection to Mr. Gonzales's assistance in this case, and believes he can provide valuable assistance to the Special Master,'' Phillips wrote in the order.

Special masters are hired in patent cases to help district judges with complex issues. In this case, Phillips was hired to handle settlement talks between DataTreasury Corp. and the banks. Phillips didn't immediately return a call to his law firm Irell & Manella in Newport Beach, California.

A former U.S. attorney, Phillips was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan to be a federal judge in Oklahoma City. He spent four years on the bench, according to information on the Irell & Manella Web site.

The New York Times reported April 13 that Gonzales had been unable to find a full-time job since leaving office in August in the wake of a scandal involving the firing of nine federal prosecutors. His lawyer didn't immediately return a call for comment.

The case is DataTreasury Corp. v. Wells Fargo & Co., 05cv291, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall).

To contact the reporter on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 6, 2008 17:23 EDT