New Report Explains That No Matter How Objectionable You Thought Jones Day Was, It's Worse

It's not just what they do, it's how they do it.

It’s not exactly news to point out that Jones Day operates like a cartoonishly evil law firm stereotype. From shady deals to gerrymander the South to disingenuous assaults on voting rights to… some interesting discrimination claims, the firm revels in its dastardly reputation. Wait, go back to that discrimination allegation… pointing guns at paralegals?!?! Obviously that’s not been tested in court yet, but it’s telling that given the firm, we all responded with “that seems entirely plausible.”

Before the Lincoln Project became toxic, it joined other, better organizations like MeidasTouch in trying to organize a boycott of the institution. Internal strife rose and the firm’s reputation among clients took a tumble, but one suspects that clients have started to return as the temperature cooled.

Honestly, I don’t understand how any transactional lawyer with a straightforward line of business allows this drama to unfold around them when it’s so much easier to work almost anywhere else.

But no matter how sharp the cringe you feel any time Jones Day is mentioned, it’s sobering to see everything detailed in one omnibus work. The Revolving Door Project and People’s Parity Project just released the second report in their ongoing Biglaw Revolving Door Series, tackling Jones Day this time around and it’s a doozy.

Jones Day has worked hard to gain a reputation as a BigLaw firm who will take on anyone as a client— representing Big Tobacco, Big Oil, and Big Tech, and even the Bin Laden family. Internally, the firm is rife with allegations of racist behavior and gender discrimination. Employees liken Jones Day to a “fraternity” displaying an “endemic culture of sexual inappropriateness.” Externally, they are one of the most notoriously anti-union BigLaw firms, at one point taking on the moniker of the “go-to for media executives facing union drives.”

The anti-labor work the firm’s been doing both in the epic McDonald’s case and with its efforts to ratf**k the good people over at Slate is egregious, but the way they dodged investigations into both Wal-Mart and Jones Day involvement in “pervasive obstruction” with help from allies in the Trump administration that (temporarily relocated) firm personnel were running really is the chef’s kiss on why an organization like the Revolving Door Project exists.

And that’s the real focus of this report. Because everyone knows what Jones Day does, but they don’t necessarily get how pernicious the firm is. Because we can quibble about where to draw the line on dispassionately advocating for distasteful clients, but that idealistic talk can’t extend to cover lawyers turning around and entering the political branches to enforce these advocacies as policy.

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Everyone knows Don McGahn jumped from a firm collecting millions from Trump’s campaigns to running the legal strategy of the White House — which, more than once arguably morphed into acting as Trump’s personal attorney on the taxpayers’ dime — to immediately returning to the firm to collect the spoils. A move that the firm already pulled on a smaller scale when Kevyn Orr became the unelected czar of Detroit, sent big bucks to Jones Day, and then returned to the firm.

But it was more than just McGahn. Noel Francisco and Eric Dreiband also moved back to find their office seats still warm. Just about the only way these lawyers avoided returning to Jones Day was by landing on the federal bench, like ABA non-qualified Kathryn Mizelle. The report includes a full table of lawyer connections.

And it wasn’t just the Trump administration. Obama also hired a number of Jones Day lawyers like Karen Hewitt:

In one of the most egregious examples, former U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt, who served under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, became the lead counsel in Jones Day’s suit against the Department of Justice for holding Walmart accountable for opioid sales. Hewitt, who attended conferences for U.S. Attorneys and met with Trump’s Attorney General William Barr while the litigation was ongoing, leveraged her connections within the DOJ to better represent a corporation that contributed to the U.S. opioid epidemic.

Biden placed Jones Day partner Shirlethia Franklin on his transition team, raising eyebrows that another effort to stock the new administration with Jones Day staff was in the offing.

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That’s what makes Jones Day so much more troubling than just a firm advancing retrograde positions in court, it’s a firm that relies on its cross-pollination within the government as part of its brand. “Listen clients, we have all the old senior DOJ staff, we have all the old agency staff, we have all the clerks… and what’s more we have all the folks who are about to senior DOJ staff, and agency staff, and clerks so get on their good side early!” They’re not the only firm to do this, but they’ve become inordinately good at it.

To be completely honest, I’m not opposed to some level of recruiting from private sector lawyers. Some areas of an administration are sufficiently specialized that lawyers practicing at the top of the field are well-suited for the gig. But when that cross-over becomes no more than a sabbatical from Biglaw clients, there are gross ethical implications. Whether the right reform is a time bar on returning to private practice or a ban on returning to the same employer or what is a deeper discussion but it absolutely cannot be the case where resigning to take a government post is a resignation in name only.

BigLaw Revolving Door Report: Jones Day [Revolving Door Project]


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.