With election season looming, Democrats and Republicans alike have opened their wallets to pay Biglaw and boutique firms millions upon millions of dollars for their services, ranging from standard campaign finance regulatory and compliance advice to all manner of litigation related to voting rights and election laws.
But which law firms have taken home the most money so far?
The National Law Journal recently published a roundup of the Biglaw and boutique firms that have served as legal counsel to Democratic and Republican national committees, and boy, have these firms taken in a ton of money. Here are some of the details, courtesy of the NLJ:
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Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Elias Law Group, and Perkins Coie have been the top-paid law firms by the Democratic National Committee in the first half of the year, while the Republican National Committee has turned to Consovoy McCarthy, McGuireWoods, and Wiley Rein, according to Federal Election Commission records from January through the end of July. Meanwhile, Jones Day has been a top recipient of the GOP’s congressional and Senate committees.
The DNC has paid $732,246 to Wilmer, $613,209 to Elias Law Group and $481,570 to Perkins Coie, according to FEC records from January through July. For its part, the RNC has paid $1.3 million to Consovoy McCarthy, $856,236 to McGuireWoods, and $417,277 to Wiley Rein in the same time period.
While the DNC recently cut ties with Marc Elias in a disagreement over his legal strategies, his firm remains the one of the top-paid firms by the Democrats. In fact, the firm is raking in money for work done for the fundraising arms of the Democratic House and Senate, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee paying the firm $3.2 million, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee paying the firm $1.4 million.
On the flip side of the political spectrum, we’ve got some familiar Biglaw and boutique heavy-hitters representing Republican interests. While Jones Day has stepped away from Trump, the firm has remained close to its Republican friends in government, having been paid more than $2.5 million by the NRSC and $179,191 by the NRCC. Consovoy McCarthy — the firm that recently had a hand in doing away with affirmative action — is bringing in tons of Republican dollars, with the National Republican Senatorial Committee paying $500,000, on top of the RNC’s $1.3 million.
We’ll see what these figures look like when we get closer to Election 2024, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the final tallies are even more eye-popping than they are now.
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These Law Firms Are the Top-Paid Counsel for Republican and Democratic National Committees [National Law Journal]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.