Legal decision spurs questions
Dismay from lawyers at major firms representing Trump in election suits
There was Big Tobacco. There was the bin Laden family. Therewas even the hated owner of the Cleveland Browns football team as he moved the franchise to Baltimore.
Now Jones Day is the most prominent firm representing President Donald Trump and the Republican Party as they prepare to wage a legal war challenging the results of the election.
The work is intensifying concerns inside the firm about the propriety and wisdom of working for Trump, according to lawyers at the firm.
Doing business with Trump — with his history of inflammatory rhetoric, meritless lawsuits and refusal to pay what he owes— has long induced heart burn among lawyers, contractors, suppliers and lenders.
But the concerns are taking on new urgency as the president seeks to raise doubts about the election results.
Some senior lawyers at Jones Day, one of the country’s largest law firms, are worried that it is advancing arguments that lack evidence and may be helping Trump and his allies undermine the integrity of American elections, according to interviews with nine partners and associates, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their jobs.
At another large firm, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, based in Columbus, Ohio, lawyers have held internal meetings to voice similar concerns about their firm’s election-related work for Trump and the Republican Party, according to people at the firm. At least one lawyer quit in protest.
Already, the two firms have filed at least three lawsuits challenging aspects of the election in Pennsylvania. The cases are pending.
Jones Day has been one of Trump’s most steadfast legal advisers.
As Trump campaigned for president in 2016, a Jones Day partner, Donald McGahn, served as his outside lawyer, leading recount fights in critical states. McGahn later became Trump’s White House counsel, before returning to Jones Day.
At the time, some senior lawyers at Jones Day objected to working closely for a polarizing presidential candidate, according to three partners at the firm.
The firm’s work for Trump has also garnered it unfavorable public attention. “Jones Day, Hands Off Our Ballots,” read a mural painted on the street outside the law firm’s San Francisco offices late lastweek.
During the Trump presidency, Jones Day has been involved in some 20 lawsuits involving Trump, his campaign or the Republican Party, and it worked for the Trump campaign on government investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The work has been lucrative. Since 2015, Jones Day has received more than $20 million in fees from the Trump campaigns, political groups linked to Trump and the Republican National Committee, according to federal records. Jones Day lawyers said thatwas a small portion of the firm’s overall revenue.
The outcry at Porter Wright, which like Jones Day was founded in the 1800s in Ohio, appears more intense.
Porter Wright has received at least $727,000 in fees this year from the Trump campaign and RNC, according to federal records.
Over the summer, some lawyers at Porter Wright were dismayed to learn that the firm would be representing the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania, according to three current and former employees.
Chief among their concerns: How could lawyers, whose profession is based on the rule of law, represent someone who they felt had frequently tried to flout it? One lawyer said hewas concerned that the firm might be asked to try to delay the election.