Biglaw

The Biglaw Attorneys Who Won Big On Election Night

Congratulations are in order.

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Jenny Durkan and Justin Fairfax

Tuesday was Election Day — the first since Donald Trump ascended to the presidency — and the results are widely being interpreted as a repudiation of the Trump agenda. Buried in the Democratic onslaught are the victories of two Biglaw attorneys.

Justin Fairfax is counsel at Venable with a practice that focuses on investigations, white-collar defense, commercial litigation, and government affairs. And he won his bid to be the next Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, as reported by Law.com:

With his victory on Tuesday, Fairfax became the first African-American to be elected to a statewide office in Virginia since 1989—the year L. Douglas Wilder was elected governor. And Fairfax won alongside Northam after a gubernatorial campaign that some observers described as racially tinged in the wake of the deadly white nationalist rally over the summer in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The leadership of Venable congratulated Fairfax on his important victory:

“Justin’s commitment to public service continues a long tradition of Venable’s attorneys entering politics with both major political parties,” said Dan Moylan, co-managing partner of Venable.  “We congratulate him on his election.”

The job is only part-time, with a salary of $36,000 — paltry compared to a Biglaw payday. But the position of Virginia Lieutenant Governor is generally regarded as a key stepping stone to higher office — seven of the last ten LGs went on to be governor.

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Jenny Durkin, co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel’s Seattle office and global chair of its cybersecurity and data protection group, also saw a victory Tuesday. After a sexual abuse scandal rocked the then-mayor Ed Murray’s tenure leading to his resignation, Durkin threw her hat into the mayoral ring.

Durkin, the former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington and the first openly gay attorney to serve in a top prosecutor role, took a leave of absence from Quinn to launch her campaign. She will be Settle’s first female mayor since the 1920s.

Congratulations to both Fairfax and Durkin on their impressive victories.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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