WASHINGTON — In every scandal that roils this capital, the opening phase of shocking revelations and wall-to-wall news coverage soon gives way to Phase 2: the spinning. The sex-and-e-mail affair that forced out the C.I.A. director and embroiled the top American commander in Afghanistan has now ripened to the image management stage, and a venerable Washington cottage industry has been fully engaged.

The major players have hired high-profile, high-priced representatives to manage the fallout, watch for legal trouble, police the news media and massage damaged reputations.

David H. Petraeus, who admitted to an extramarital affair and stepped down from the Central Intelligence Agency on Nov. 9, has engaged Robert B. Barnett, a superlawyer whose online list of clients begins with the last three presidents. Though he is perhaps best known for negotiating book megadeals for the Washington elite, his focus this time is said to be steering Mr. Petraeus’s future career, not his literary life.