Trump connections give edge to Big Law firms seeking influence

Big Law firms with ties to President-elect Donald Trump are positioning themselves to influence policy while those heavily tilted toward Democrats retool.

One notable player, Squire Patton Boggs , counts former Trump international economic adviser Everett Eissenstat and former defense secretary Mark Esper among recent hires. Partner Edward Newberry said he and Trump’s incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles exchanged texts just before the election.

“I would expect that I would work closely with her in the administration, particularly where we have clients supporting the administration’s objectives,” said Newberry, whom Wiles hired as a lobbyist decades ago when she worked for the Jacksonville, Florida mayor.

Holland & Knight’s Trump connections include one of its lobbyists, former US Rep. Tom Davis , R-Va., who said he turned down an invitation to join the president-elect’s transition team because he’s a registered lobbyist but keeps in close contact with its members.

“At other firms, it was like a hate crime to donate to Trump—they’re having to reorient,” Davis said. “Now they are out there trying to recruit Republicans.”

With Trump about to return to office, firms with connections can tout them as a marketing tool to pitch services to clients, said Jeff Hauser , executive director of Revolving Door Project, a group created to scrutinize executive branch appointees.

“Big law firms like to be bipartisan,” though that can be difficult for some of them, he said. “Sometimes you’ll see multiple law firms on a specific case and the Democratic-aligned law firm might partner up with a law firm better connected to Trump’s America.”

Coinbase CEO Threatens Law Firms Over Government Hires

Coinbase Global Inc. is warning its law firms not to hire any anti-crypto government lawyers or risk losing the company’s work in what could be a sign of things to come for Biden administration attorneys.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in a post on X on Dec. 2 that “we’ve let all the law firms we work with know, that if they hire anyone who committed these bad deeds in the (soon to be) prior administration, we will no longer be a client of theirs.”

Armstrong then singled out Milbank LLP’s hire of Gurbir Grewal in October, who was the former enforcement director of the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the firm “messed up” while noting that “we don’t work with them now (and never will while he works there).”

At a New York City Bar Association panel, Gurbir Grewal acknowledged the tense relationship between the crypto community and Gary Gensler’s SEC.

“The thing to make clear here is none of our work here was motivated by an animus toward an industry or to pick winners or losers,” Grewal said. “We took a certain approach and there’s been a tremendous amount of frustration with that approach.”

The value of Armstrong’s message is to communicate directly to those firms that are not yet on Coinbase’s roster that this is a consideration that they should bear in mind when they’re when they’re recruiting people to their firm, Paul Grewal , the company’s general counsel, said in an interview.

Coinbase’s Grewal said he hoped Armstrong’s tweet “does provoke a wider conversation among industry leaders about the revolving door in Washington and the historic assumption that lawyers in government can essentially do what they want without any consequence.”

Paul Weiss Closing in Beijing as Big Law Retrenches in China

Paul Weiss plans to shutter its office in Beijing by the end of the year, joining a raft of Big Law firms who have reduced their presence in China in recent months.

The firm’s Beijing office, which was launched in 1981, lists one partner, a counsel, and two associates, according to Paul Weiss’ website.

“We remain committed to having a strong presence across Asia, including in Hong Kong and Tokyo, and will continue to provide the highest-quality service to our clients in all of our global offices,” a firm spokeswoman said in a statement.

More than a dozen US law firms have closed offices or reduced their footprint in mainland China over the past year. The list includes WilmerHale; Kirkland & Ellis; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Perkins Coie; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Sidley Austin; Dechert; and Winston & Strawn.

Dentons, which had perhaps the largest presence in China, separated from its mainland Chinese practice in 2023, citing compliance with a data regulation law the country passed.

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