Not surprising Big Law and Big Law firms have rallied for Kamala Harris
Some of the biggest names at America’s most prominent law firms are pledging to throw their weight behind Kamala Harris’s campaign for US president, in the latest sign of how Joe Biden’s decision not to seek re-election has energised core parts of the party’s base and fundraising pool. An email sent to nearly 300 lawyers on Sunday by Brad Karp, chair of prestigious law firm Paul Weiss, sought to rally support for Harris. It has generated an enthusiastic response, according to recipients, with the leader of Cravath and senior figures at DLA Piper helping to mobilise colleagues.
A large event loosely scheduled for the autumn is expected to raise as much as $10mn, one person familiar with the efforts said. The push for Harris among some of the country’s most senior lawyers comes as the vice-president’s campaign continues to break fundraising records and gather support from leading business figures. A group of more than 100 venture capitalists, including Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca, on Wednesday pledged to back her, forming a “VCs for Kamala” group. In his email seen by the Financial Times, Karp, a prominent Democrat who is also a key fundraiser for the party, said he and others intended “to work as a group to raise funds for the campaign and to address legal issues certain to arise in the course of the next 100 days, including election integrity”.
The email went to a who’s-who of influential lawyers, including Wachtell co-founder Marty Lipton, Cravath managing partner Faiza Saeed, former US attorney-general Loretta Lynch and several top attorneys at DLA Piper, the firm where Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff used to practise. Recipients also included high-profile lawyers at Skadden Arps, Quinn Emanuel, Latham and Watkins, Cooley and dozens of other firms, many of which represent the US’s largest corporate and tech groups. Saeed, the first woman to lead Cravath, will be directly involved in the efforts, as will DLA’s co-chair, restructuring specialist Richard Chesley.
A separate Lawyers for Harris group, co-led by former Alabama senator Doug Jones, who previously ran a Lawyers for Biden group, is planning a launch call for Thursday. Jon Henes, a former Kirkland and Ellis lawyer and longtime Democratic donor, has also sent letters and emails to chairs of major US law firms over the past week, said one person familiar with the outreach. Meanwhile, Jamie Gorelick and David Ogden — former deputy attorneys-general now at WilmerHale — and 40 other former DoJ officials recently endorsed Harris. “The fabric of the nation, the rule of law and the future of the democracy are at stake in this election,” they wrote in a letter. Karp, who also co-led efforts to rally lawyers behind Harris in 2019, said he expected to put on events “over the coming weeks/months” with her and Emhoff as well as campaign strategists and other surrogates.
The response to Karp’s call is a marked shift from Big Law’s attitude to the Biden campaign, which was seen as heading towards inevitable defeat in November, according to four New York law firm leaders who spoke to the FT. After his disastrous debate against Donald Trump, fundraising for Biden had “completely dried up”, one major law firm leader said. “There were events where they had no one agreeing to attend . . . when you’d expected to be raising $250,000 or more at a time.” Kent Zimmermann of the Zeughauser Group, which advises major law firms, said the newfound enthusiasm for Harris in the legal world reflected a belief that she “is more likely to protect the rule of law and avoid uncertainty that could upset financial markets”. It also underlines how Harris, who had some support in the legal community when she ran against Biden to be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2019, has attempted to quell fears about how she would treat Wall Street once in office.
She was a rather aggressive prosecutor,” the law firm leader said. “I’m not overly concerned about her being a radical, left-leaning president.” Other firms with big corporate clients have been happy to be associated with the campaign, including Covington, where former Obama administration attorney-general Eric Holder is helping the Harris camp vet potential vice-president picks. However, Karp’s email list suggests there may still be some resistance to Harris and the Democrats in Big Law. Some prominent names missing from the roll call included Kirkland & Ellis and Jones Day, both of whom provided officials to the last Trump administration.
