Biglaw

And Now BOTH Biglaw Lawyers Have Resigned Over The Trump Call

There's an unfortunate theme to this whole week.

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(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The week began with an explosive audio recording of Donald Trump pressuring Georgia election officials to accept debunked conspiracy theories and “find” enough ballots to allow him to win the state. While most of the country marveled that Trump was caught on tape seemingly committing the requisite acts of attempted election interference — query whether he’s capable of mens rea at this point — the legal world marveled that three lawyers sat in on a call like that.

And then the Capitol was ransacked by a violent mob and election fraud seemed somewhat quaint by comparison.

One of the lawyers, Cleta Mitchell, was a partner at Foley & Lardner as the week began. As the firm scrambled to respond as clients protested the firm’s involvement in the dubious election effort and groups began to agitate for clients to boycott en masse, the firm indicated that Mitchell had gone rogue and began offering professional succor to the president’s quixotic QAnon quackery. A day later, Foley & Lardner announced that Mitchell was out — resigning in a letter that blamed “leftists” and not the problematic business and ethical morass she’d tried to drag her firm into.

Alex Kaufman of Fox Rothschild didn’t speak on the call — and says he does not and has not represented Trump — though was introduced as one of “the attorneys that represent the president.” He remained unidentified for a few days before we revealed his involvement yesterday morning. The firm informed us last night that Kaufman and his father, Emory Law Alumni Board member Robert Kaufman, had agreed to leave (Kaufman’s statement is included in our prior article).

And while Mitchell blames “leftists” for pressuring Foley & Lardner, this bellyaching is just a sad reflection of the culture of irresponsibility that’s grown up around the conservative movement. In both cases, the respective firms refused to get involved in election challenges as a matter of policy… and the lawyers went ahead anyway. The firms made their decisions based on an assessment of both professional and business concerns. To be dragged into asserting claims that had already been rejected by courts across the country  (and are triggering sanction motions against other lawyers) hurts the reputation and business of every other partner in the firm. But these two, whether they thought about it in these terms or not, put themselves ahead of all that.

Just like the anti-mask brigade puts their convenience ahead of public health. And how the rioters put their delusions ahead of the safety and the sanctity of the American government. And, now, how Lindsey Graham is trying to blame Portland for the mob he spent four years whipping up. Nothing is ever these people’s responsibility. They can do whatever they want and if not, it’s the fault of leftists, or Dominion, or Hugo Chavez, or China, or Fauci, or the Woke Crowd, or AOC, or Pelosi, or Portlandia reruns.

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But instead of casting about for some third-party to blame, in the immortal words of Ice Cube, if you take a moment to check yourself, you can often avoid wrecking yourself.

Earlier: Cleta Mitchell Out At Foley & Lardner After Troubling Donald Trump Call
Donald Trump Drags Biglaw Firm Into Middle Of Election Interference Effort
There Was ANOTHER Biglaw Firm Partner On The Donald Trump Call With Georgia Election Officials

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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