Prologue: Power Play
1. they had never done so: Joe Sims email to author.
2. “That is one great building”: Betsy Pisik, “Big law firm plans move near Capitol,” Washington Times, 5/7/1996.
3. This was when the problems began: Jennifer Yachnin, “Senate Overrules Zoning Board,” Roll Call, 6/30/2005.
4. essentially blocked the building’s construction: Yachnin, 2005.
5. touched that Jones Day: Don McGahn email to author.
6. a handful of prominent Democrats: Kevyn Orr email to author.
7. Supreme Court orator Daniel Webster: Adam Winkler, We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, 2018, 71–72.
Chapter 1: A Hustling Business
1. Four hulking steel tanks: John Stark Bellamy II, They Died Crawling: True Stories of the Foulest Crimes and Worst Disasters in Cleveland History, 1995, 63.
2. 50 million cubic feet: Alvin Silverman, “34 Dead, Scores Missing, 10,000 Driven Out in Blast,” Plain Dealer, 10/21/1944.
3. twice the volume: Grant Segall, “‘I knew everything was gone’—the East Ohio Gas explosion,” Plain Dealer, 10/16/1994.
4. “one of the scientific wonders”: Silverman, 1944.
5. Neighbors noticed white mist: Bellamy, 66.
6. “a big balloon of fire”: Fred McGunagle, “Gas Explosion Rocks East Side,” Plain Dealer, 12/6/1998.
7. sky turned orange: Silverman, 1944.
8. flames leaping a half mile up: Bellamy, 62.
9. enough to melt coins: Bellamy, 62.
10. “It was as if a flame-thrower”: Eric Sandy, “The Day Cleveland Exploded,” Cleveland Scene, 10/15/2014.
11. Charred sparrows fell: Silverman, 1944.
12. car tires blew out: Bellamy, 68–69.
13. manhole covers shooting: Silverman, 1944.
14. The fire smoldered: Segall, 1994.
15. The occasional lonely tree: Segall, 1994.
16. they couldn’t be identified: Michael Sangiacomo and James Ewinger, “East Ohio Gas Explosions—60 Years Later,” Plain Dealer, 10/18/2004.
17. Some were found kneeling: Segall, 1994.
18. one of the three largest: Jim Dubelko, “The Union Trust Building,” Cleveland Historical Society.
19. East Ohio’s best bet: Albert Borowitz, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue: The First Century, 1993, 94–95.
20. The next day: Borowitz, 94–95.
21. “It is not necessary”: Segall, 1994.
22. Only twenty-four lawsuits: Borowitz, 94–95.
23. remained in the neighborhood: Sangiacomo and Ewinger, 2004.
24. fast and fair: Segall, 1994.
25. was not libelous: Borowitz, 13–14.
26. he was found lying: Borowitz, 15–16.
27. the case was never cracked: Borowitz, 16–17.
28. building a mythology: Jones Day presentation to new hires, October 2017.
29. Jack Reavis, chuckled: Reavis speech to Jones Day associates, 1983.
30. Lawyers who assembled: Mitt Regan and Lisa H. Rohrer, BigLaw: Money and Meaning in the Modern Law Firm, 2021, 17–18.
31. “a hustling business”: Regan and Rohrer, 19.
32. The profession’s response: Regan and Rohrer, 19.
33. “This young man”: Jones Day presentation to new hires, October 2017.
34. “just as local”: Reavis speech to associates, 1983.
35. in a cape and top hat: Borowitz, 47–48.
36. “A young lawyer”: Janet H. Cho, “A global venue,” Plain Dealer, 6/19/2006.
37. “He completely dominated”: Borowitz, 47.
38. “If you are not willing”: Jones Day website, “Firm History.”
39. Jones represented: Borowitz, 24–25.
40. alongside his brother Tat: Borowitz, 35.
41. “this god-awful alcohol”: Reavis speech to associates, 1983.
42. it was a prank: Borowitz, 35.
43. Ginn selected Jones: Borowitz, 64.
44. four weeks of vacation time: Borowitz, 75–77.
45. “possibly the greatest trial lawyer”: Borowitz, 66.
46. He focused on keeping: Borowitz, 68–73.
47. the last clerk to serve: Nick Ravo, “Chapman Rose, 83, Lawyer Who Served In 2 Administrations,” New York Times, 2/20/1990.
48. “Dullness is not diminished”: Author interview of a Rose family member.
49. “Sonny, go home”: Borowitz, 95.
50. his starting salary: Reavis speech to associates, 1983.
51. the rank of colonel: Ravo, 1990.
52. Washington was poised: Borowitz, 95–97.
53. representing storied companies: Borowitz, 116.
54. a client of Luther Day’s: Borowitz, 99–100.
55. “What in the world”: Brooks Jones notebook, provided to author by Lissy Gulick.
56. “Your father is dead”: Jones notebook.
Chapter 2: The Independence Principle
1. prowling the offices: Stephen Adler, “Antonin Scalia: The affable arch-conservative,” American Lawyer, March 1985.
2. that year’s going rate: Marc Galanter and Thomas Palay, Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law Firm, 1991, 24.
3. about $4,000: Erwin O. Smigel, “The Impact of Recruitment on the Organization of the Large Law Firm,” American Sociological Review, February 1960.
4. Firms also sent notices: Smigel, 1960.
5. “summer boarders”: Smigel, 1960.
6. “irritates many lawyers”: Smigel, 1960.
7. “not going to talk to you”: Dick Pogue interview with author.
8. he planned to accept: E. R. Shipp, “Scalia’s Midwest Colleagues Cite His Love of Debate, Poker and Piano,” New York Times, 7/26/1986.
9. Lynn had persuaded: Adler, 1985.
10. thought to himself: Bloomberg Law, “Scalia’s Six-Year Stint as a Big Law Associate,” 2/17/2016.
11. The debate wore on: Adler, 1985.
12. Scalia summered: Antonin Scalia interview by Judith R. Hope, Oral History Project of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit, 12/5/1992.
13. played the piano: Jane Morice, “Former Jones Day colleague remembers Scalia as conscientious lawyer with ‘twinkle in his eye,’” Cleveland.com, 2/14/2016.
14. “likes to hammer”: Shipp, 1986.
15. wearing a fishing hat: James B. Staab, The Political Thought of Justice Antonin Scalia: A Hamiltonian on the Supreme Court, 2006, 6.
16. At lunch, he’d debate: Shipp, 1986.
17. “I got a really good look”: Scalia interview, 1992.
18. “longer than I should have”: Scalia interview, 1992.
19. Scalia grew bored: Bloomberg Law, 2016.
20. “such a liberal place”: Adler, 1985.
21. “a sharp tongue”: Borowitz, 129.
22. the names of partners’ wives: Borowitz, 130.
23. “Sierra Club ‘Soot Award’”: Roldo Bartimole, “Scrooge Awards,” Point of View, 12/20/1971.
24. “another fat cat”: Roldo Bartimole, “Many Roads Lead to Jack Reavis,” Point of View, 4/21/1968.
25. He used his clout: Borowitz, 136–37.
26. sixteen-year-old farm boy: Adam Bernstein, “L. Welch Pogue Dies,” Washington Post, 5/14/2003.
27. Among his clients were Bell: Borowitz, 152–53.
28. he helped negotiate: Bernstein, 2003.
29. fourteen lawyers: Pogue interview.
30. its first winner: Bernstein, 2003.
31. was completely reliant: Nicholas Lemann, “The Split,” Washington Post Magazine, 3/23/1980.
32. He immediately hit it off: Mark Stevens, Power of Attorney: The Rise of the Giant Law Firms, 1987, 132.
33. Pogue could tell: Stevens, 130–31.
34. more than doubled: Borowitz, 154.
35. Pan Am, its biggest customer: Lemann, 1980.
36. landed him: Erwin N. Griswold, Ould Fields, New Corne: The Personal Memoirs of a Twentieth Century Lawyer, 1992, 353–54.
37. first met Nixon: Ravo, 1990.
38. became friends: New York Times, “Lawyer Affirms Nixon Consulted Him,” 7/15/1973.
39. a big donor: Ravo, 1990.
40. regularly called Rose: John W. Dean, The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It, 2014, 422.
41. “glad to offer it”: New York Times, 1973.
42. Jonathan Rose would say: Borowitz, 242.
43. “a supreme demonstration”: Borowitz, 242.
44. “The Independence Principle”: Jones Day website, “Firm History.”
Chapter 3: A Truly National Firm
1. “much like Silicon Valley”: Naomi R. Lamoreaux, Margaret Levenstein, and Kenneth L. Sokoloff, “Mobilizing Venture Capital During the Second Industrial Revolution: Cleveland, Ohio, 1870–1920,” Capitalism and Society, 2006.
2. brilliant but mercurial: Borowitz, 188.
3. “got tired of bed”: Borowitz, 191–92.
4. Holmes didn’t care: Pogue interview.
5. Let’s follow it west: Pogue interview.
6. serve as a model: Borowitz, 158–59.
7. “a dramatic symbol”: Dick Pogue, “Inside Jones Day: Cleveland, 1893 to Donald Trump,” Big Law Business Podcast, 3/17/2017.
8. the bar association caved: Borowitz, 160–61.
9. The California experiment proved humbling: Pogue podcast, 2017.
10. it became a joke: Borowitz, 165–66.
11. a self-sufficient fiefdom: Griswold, 366.
12. expelled the leaders: Lemann, 1980.
13. Pogue was impressed: Pogue email to author.
14. left the firm: Griswold, 418.
15. Lynn endorsed Scalia: Adler, 1985.
16. following a recommendation from Jonathan Rose: Adler, 1985.
17. where he helped establish: Michael Kruse, “The Weekend at Yale That Changed American Politics,” Politico Magazine, September/October 2018.
18. Rose recommended him: Adler, 1985.
Chapter 4: Advertisers-at-Law
1. He started looking: John Bates interview with author.
2. sounded pretty good: Bates interview.
3. They became friends: Author interviews with Bates and Van O’Steen.
4. “this gigantic gap”: Bates interview.
5. “a neighborhood drunk”: John Tierney, “Van O’Steen Brings the Law to the People,” Esquire, December 1985.
6. could spend their time: David L. Hudson Jr., “Bates Participants Reflect on Landmark Case,” Freedom Forum Institute, 11/18/2004.
7. “defy the traditions”: Galanter and Palay, 69–70.
8. “shall not publicize himself”: Wade H. Logan III, “Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation: The Birth of the Marlboro Man,” South Carolina Law Review, Summer 1991, 860.
9. had been disciplined: Galanter and Palay, 70.
10. agreed to run the ad: O’Steen interview.
11. That week was a blur: Bates interview.
12. Lewis and Ruth Goldfarb: Louis M. Kohlmeier, “Price-Fixing in the Professions,” New York Times, 4/18/1976.
13. “committing economic suicide”: Alan B. Morrison, oral arguments in Goldfarb v. State Bar of Virginia, 3/25/1975.
14. “one of the most farsighted”: Winkler, 299.
15. fast-track the case: O’Steen interview.
16. rejected their arguments: Hudson, 2004.
17. like their faces were burning: O’Steen interview.
18. “Did you hear that?”: Bates and O’Steen interviews.
19. “You won”: O’Steen interview.
20. a decent-sized firm: O’Steen interview.
21. The two old friends: Bates interview.
22. the number would soar: Galanter and Palay, 53.
23. National Association of Law Firm Marketing Administrators: David Margolick, “They’re Selling Lawyers on Selling Their Services,” New York Times, 3/26/1993.
24. “came down the wrong way”: Pogue interview.
25. “It worked!”: Pogue interview.
26. brought in folks: Cora Daniels, “The Man in the Tan Khaki Pants,” Fortune, May 2000.
27. The venue: Terry Pristin, “The Suits Loosen Up, in an Uneasy Way,” New York Times, 4/6/2000.
28. strutted their khakis: Daniels, 2000.
Chapter 5: Creating a Monster
1. “Try to put yourself”: Steve Brill, “Dark World of the Wino,” New York Times, 12/31/1970.
2. had gone viral: Steven Brill interview with author.
3. “The law is moving rapidly”: Brill memo, reviewed by author.
4. fifteen minutes left: Brill interview.
5. “stories that should be written”: Jim Stewart interview with author.
6. attendees were besieged: Arthur John Keeffe, “Everyone Wants to Get into the Act,” American Bar Association Journal, November 1978.
7. “a scurrilous publication”: Patricia Bellew Gray, “Steven Brill, the Terror of Legal Journalism, Is Building an Empire,” Wall Street Journal, 3/26/1986.
8. “run you out of town”: Laura Mansnerus, “As Brash Publisher’s Empire Ends, Quest Begins for Another,” New York Times, 3/3/1997.
9. The greatest indignity: Brill interview.
10. a group of reporters would smoke pot: Jill Abramson interview with author.
11. Stewart was embarrassed: Stewart interview.
12. he’d scrawl insults: Mansnerus, 1997.
13. “Is English your second language?”: Gray, 1986.
14. “You should be fired”: James J. Cramer, Confessions of a Street Addict, 2003, 11.
15. “a real S.O.B.”: Gray, 1986.
16. threatened to stab: Abramson interview.
17. sank his teeth: Gray, 1986.
18. trail of blood: Cramer, 12.
19. bloody scratches: Stewart interview.
20. “all with one bite”: Cramer, 12.
21. Most Friday evenings: Brill interview.
22. His idea was this: Brill interview.
23. Reporters could use the clue: Bob Windrem interview with author.
24. “one of the most antisocial acts”: Brill, 30–31.
25. That was what it took: Andrew Bruck and Andrew Canter, “Supply, Demand, and the Changing Economics of Large Law Firms,” Stanford Law Review, April 2008.
26. doubled between 1985 and 1998: Galanter and Palay, 46, and David Segal, “In the Business of Billing?,” Washington Post, 3/22/1998.
27. seventeen did: Bernard Ascher, “The Threat to U.S. Lawyers from Competition by Multidisciplinary Practices,” American Antitrust Institute Working Paper, November 2006, 16.
28. at least a billion dollars: Regan and Rohrer, 3.
29. rivaled the auto sector: Brill, 30.
30. did so with gusto: James F. Fitzpatrick, “Legal Future Shock: The Role of Larger Law Firms by the End of the Century,” Indiana Law Journal, Summer 1989.
31. The number of recruiting firms: Galanter and Palay, 54.
32. “can create immense risks”: Fitzpatrick, 1989.
33. “Growth changes the character”: Galanter and Palay, 3.
34. more than 1,300 billable hours: Bruck and Canter, 2008.
35. at least 2,000 hours: Segal, 1998.
36. 2,500 billable hours: Bruck and Canter, 2008.
37. 52 consecutive all-nighters: Segal, 1998.
38. a national survey of lawyers: Segal, 1998.
39. “ethical gray zones”: Marc Galanter and William Henderson, “The Elastic Tournament: A Second Transformation of the Big Law Firm,” Stanford Law Review, April 2008.
40. “The leaders of the law”: Sol M. Linowitz and Martin Mayer, The Betrayed Profession: Lawyering at the End of the Twentieth Century, 1994, 227.
41. “The only question”: Segal, 1998.
42. “It’s all my fault”: Linowitz and Mayer, 32.
Chapter 6: Keeping Up with the Jones Days
1. Dick Pogue was in his office: Pogue email.
2. even as a baby: Borowitz, 350.
3. poker and the saxophone: Borowitz, 352.
4. “more hours than I do”: Borowitz, 351.
5. two main priorities: Pogue email.
6. “Everyone else was going”: Pogue interview.
7. The firm had a jump: Borowitz, 174–75.
8. seized on the deal: Stuart Taylor, “Law Firms Becoming National in Scope,” New York Times, 1/11/1981.
9. in five offices: Larkin, 2018.
10. an office in Austin: Borowitz, 177.
11. Kneipper and a small team: Rick Kneipper interview with author.
12. “we needed to be international”: Pogue podcast, 2017.
13. their frugality appealed: Pogue email.
14. a total of 572: Borowitz, 178–79.
15. “the primary attraction”: New York Times, “2 Law Firms In a Merger,” 1/7/1986.
16. “the unique distinction”: Borowitz, 238–41.
17. South African Sugar Association: Jones Day FARA disclosure, 6/26/1988.
18. the Chinese government: Jones Day FARA disclosures, 1/31/1986 and 7/22/1987.
19. ended up serving the weapons factory: Robert J. McCartney, “4 Firms Linked to Libyan Plant,” Washington Post, 1/10/1989.
20. officials denied wrongdoing: Stephen Engelberg, “U.S. Says an Iraqi Had Role in Libyan Plant,” New York Times, 1/10/1989.
21. already in hot water: McCartney, 1989.
22. “guilty until proven innocent”: John McCain, Congressional Record—Senate, 1/25/1989, 500.
23. “Proposal for Representation”: Jones Day FARA disclosure, 2/17/1989.
24. signed on as a client: Jones Day FARA disclosure, 2/17/1989.
25. Senate aides said: Mark Hosenball, “Law Firm’s German Client Alleged to Have Ties with Libya,” Washington Post, 6/13/1989.
26. went on a spree: Borowitz, 179–83.
27. more than one thousand lawyers: Gayle Young, “Jones Day to merge, creating second largest law firm,” United Press International, 5/11/1989.
28. “awesome to behold”: Stevens, 146
29. “keeping up with the Jones Days”: Steven Greenhouse, “U.S. Lawyers Flock to Brussels,” New York Times, 5/13/1991.
30. Under Pogue’s watch: Larkin, 2018.
31. Pogue would insist: John R. Brandt, “The light at the end of the tunnel,” Corporate Cleveland, January 1993.
32. “a sparkling personality”: Stevens, 136.
33. prone to repeating: Stevens, 149–50.
34. ill-fitting suits: Stevens, 136.
Chapter 7: The Greatest Client
1. McCartan’s defense was that: Michael L. King, “Top Trial Lawyer Gets Firms Out of Trouble With Quiet Efficiency,” Wall Street Journal, 11/2/1982.
2. never been forced to pay: Philip Hager, “Cigarette Makers Sued,” Los Angeles Times, 8/5/1985.
3. courts increasingly held: Frank V. Tursi, Susan E. White, and Steve McQuilkin, Lost Empire: The Fall of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 2000, 242–43.
4. got permission to appoint: Pogue email.
5. Pogue promised Henderson: Borowitz, 234–35.
6. a large team set up shop: Tursi, White, and McQuilkin, 246.
7. Small squads of attorneys: “RJR Response to Attorney General Humphrey Comments,” 4/22/1998. This document and others cited below—including internal RJR records and correspondence between company executives and Jones Day lawyers—are available in the vast “Truth Tobacco Industry Documents” archive maintained by the University of California, San Francisco.
8. a long report: “Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue Draft: Corporate Activity Project,” 11/17/1986.
9. “The key defense strategy”: “Corporate Activity Project,” 1986.
10. “waging a definitional battle”: Tursi, White, and McQuilkin, 342.
11. directed to find experts: Peter Biersteker letter to RJR and Womble Carlyle, 8/12/1992.
12. Camel Lights smoker: John Strauch email to author.
13. high school football star: Bill Lubinger, “Latest Win for the Defense,” Plain Dealer, 8/27/2000.
14. During jury selection: Lubinger, 2000.
15. Folks like that: Tom Jackson, “Jones Day partner wins big for Big Blue,” Crain’s Cleveland Business, 4/5/2004.
16. “He was raised”: Lubinger, 2000.
17. “we’re in control”: Lubinger, 2000.
18. Weber composed a handbook: Bob Weber, Some Few Thoughts on Trial Law and Trial Lawyers, 2005.
19. Belli thought he’d found: Tursi, White, and McQuilkin, 244.
20. he generally appeared: Oliver, 1996.
21. “live like the king of torts”: Tursi, White, and McQuilkin, 245.
22. Galbraith would sneak smokes: Marcia Chambers, “Suit to Link Smoking and Death Opens This Week,” New York Times, 11/12/1985.
23. more addictive than alcohol: Hager, 1985.
24. similar lawsuits: Chambers, 1985.
25. Jones Day demanded: Sara D. Guardino and Richard A. Daynard, “Punishing Tobacco Industry Misconduct,” University of Pittsburgh Law Review, 2005.
26. The RJR contingent subpoenaed: Dallas Times Herald, “Giant Tobacco Firm Deploys Small Army to Fight Lawsuit,” 12/8/1985.
27. hobbies and eating habits: Tursi, White, and McQuilkin, 249–50.
28. “The aggressive posture”: Laurie P. Cohen and Alix M. Freedman, “Smoke and Mirrors: The Tobacco Industry’s Response to Health Fears,” Wall Street Journal, 2/11/1993.
29. surveyed the crowded courtroom: Gene Marlowe, “Legal Forces Are Gathering in Reynolds Cigarette Case,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/9/1985.
30. it convinced the judge: Dallas Times Herald, 1985.
31. a regular audience of analysts: Marlowe, 1985.
32. a surprisingly long life: Morton Mintz, “R.J. Reynolds Upbeat as Court Date Looms,” Washington Post, 11/10/1985.
33. “who helped him obtain cigarettes”: Marlowe, 1985.
34. Strauch crowed to reporters: Linda Deutsch, “Tobacco Company Wins Suit Over Death of Man Who Smoked for 50 Years,” Associated Press, 12/23/1985.
35. had approached Huber: Deposition of Gary Huber, 9/20/1997, 11.
36. “the P.R. value”: Final opinion in US v. Philip Morris USA et al., 8/17/2006, 148.
37. inhaling the smoke deeper: Final opinion in US v. Philip Morris, 284.
38. “people who worship”: Huber deposition, 53–54.
39. the visit from Jones Day: Huber deposition, 85.
40. “shoddy and poorly conceived”: Lee Hancock and Mark Curriden, “Ex-tobacco insider says lawyers were in control,” Dallas Morning News, 12/21/1997.
41. “so highly diluted”: Dick Stanley, “Texas professor questions secondhand smoke claims,” Austin American-Statesman, 7/18/1994.
42. “Is smoking beneficial”: Shane, 1997.
43. pointed reporters toward Huber’s research: Hancock and Curriden, 1997.
44. “one of the most cited researchers”: Stanley, 1994.
45. “Modern Puritans want to control”: William Murchison, “Modern Puritans want to control us through government,” Dallas Morning News, 10/19/1994.
46. Congressional Research Service report: Hancock and Curriden, 1997.
47. cited Huber’s research in ads: Hancock and Curriden, 1997.
48. a lawsuit against the U.S.: Stanley, 1994.
49. into the millions of dollars: Hancock and Curriden, 1997.
50. Jones Day helped craft: “Statement of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company,” submitted to House Energy and Commerce Committee, 4/14/1994.
51. “I was shocked and appalled”: Letter to RJR’s James Johnston from Jones Day’s Jean Firestone, 4/21/1994.
52. “Jones Day’s representation of RJR”: Letter from Chuck Brixt to Pat McCartan, 4/24/1995.
53. a weekend of golf: Blixt letter to Bob Weber, 6/3/1997.
54. a $2 billion racketeering case: Emily Heller, “Playing defense on a high wire,” National Law Journal, 6/21/2004.
55. At RJR’s instruction: Letter from Jones Day’s Barbara Kacir to RJR’s Daniel Donahue, 4/17/1992.
56. RJR cited those papers: RJR, “Issues Related to Allegations Made by 27 State Attorneys General,” September 1993.
57. a total of about $1 million: Tursi, White, and McQuilkin, 247.
58. $7.8 million in a typical month: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, “Estimated RJRT liabilities as of 9/15/98,” 9/21/1998, 8.
59. the firm’s total revenue: “Jones Day,” ALM Intelligence website.
60. “extremely angry”: Hancock and Curriden, 1997.
61. “My prayers are with you”: Hancock and Curriden, 1997.
62. “worried about a lot of things”: Huber deposition, 108.
63. offered him the protection: Hancock and Curriden, 1997.
64. a crucial piece of his argument: Don Homa, “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Distortion,” Arizona Republic, 6/8/2002.
Chapter 8: Aiding and Abetting
1. the firm could pitch itself: Kneipper interview.
2. about two hundred thrifts: Wade Lambert, “Jones Day Will Pay $51 Million to Settle Lincoln Savings Case,” Wall Street Journal, 4/20/1993.
3. Immediately before arriving: Office of Thrift Supervision, “Jones Day Settles OTS Case Involving Lincoln Savings,” PR Newswire, 4/19/1993.
4. “the same type of violations”: Susan Schmidt, “Law Firm Sued Over Keating Aid,” Washington Post, 4/4/1991.
5. His hope was that Schilling: Rita Jensen, “In Whose Best Interests?,” Fellowship paper, Alicia Patterson Foundation, 1994.
6. eager to show his new colleagues: Kneipper interview.
7. Word had reached Jones Day: Kneipper interview.
8. an eleven-page letter: Jensen, 1994.
9. Their pitch was that: Jensen, 1994.
10. “is made for us”: James S. Granelli, “Keating’s Advisers Under Fire,” Los Angeles Times, 3/14/1992.
11. showed off the $250,000 check: Jensen, 1994.
12. about thirty colleagues: Diane Solov, “Jones Day Still Dealing With Fallout of Failed S&L,” Plain Dealer, 3/21/1993.
13. round-the-clock operation: Jensen, 1994.
14. Jones Day had somehow learned: Solov, 3/21/1993.
15. “the client”: Jensen, 1994.
16. Within three weeks: Jensen, 1994.
17. the lawyers told their client: Tim Smart, “Jones Day: Did It Do Its Duty in the Keating Affair?,” Bloomberg News, 5/4/1992.
18. an entity controlled by Keating: Smart, 1992.
19. “They reported the crimes”: Solov, 3/21/1993.
20. a bank employee told the lawyers: Jensen, 1994.
21. The retroactive cleanup: Jensen, 1994.
22. another two years: Solov, 3/21/1993.
23. the largest PAC: Saundra Torry, “Presents From Deep Pockets for Election Season,” Washington Post, 11/4/1996.
24. “we could bill liberally”: Granelli, 1992.
25. “Shame on them”: Granelli, 1992.
26. $1,000 denominations: Keith R. Fisher, “The Higher Calling: Regulation of Lawyers Post-Enron,” University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, Volume 37, 2004.
27. a secretary at Jones Day noticed: Jensen, 1994.
28. More than twenty thousand: Jensen, 1994.
29. Pogue flew down to Texas: Stuart Taylor Jr., “Did Jones, Day’s Slick Deals Cross the Line?,” American Lawyer, March 1991.
30. a former bank employee told: Taylor, 1991.
31. “aided and abetted”: Stephen Labaton, “Regulators Suing Law Firm They Use,” New York Times, 11/4/1990.
32. might have been averted: Schmidt, 1991.
33. Pogue was furious: Taylor, 1991.
34. regulators and lawmakers criticized: Ricardo Sandoval, “Top S&L regulator to join law firm that represented American Continental,” Orange County Register, 8/21/1990.
35. the two Texas thrifts: Taylor, 1991.
36. “This type of thing”: Sandoval, 1990.
37. Pogue had entrusted this plotting: Brandt, 1993.
38. Pogue decided that the right thing: Pogue email.
39. barely made a dent: Kirk Ladendorf, “$16.5 Million Fine Settles S&L Suit,” Austin American-Statesman, 10/10/1992.
40. “There was an increasing risk”: Alison Leigh Cowan, “Big Law and Auditing Firms to Pay Millions in S.&L. Suit,” New York Times, 3/31/1992.
41. The partners themselves: Wade Lambert and Amy Stevens, “Jones Day Girds for Unusual Fight With RTC Over Lincoln Savings,” Wall Street Journal, 4/13/1993.
42. delayed a week: Diane Solov, “‘Call Me Every 10 Minutes’: How Jones Day Made the RTC Deal,” Plain Dealer, 4/25/1993.
43. the largest penalty levied: Cushman, 1993.
44. “This is really an instance”: Granelli, 1993.
45. one Jones Day lawyer smirked: Diane Solov, “Jones Day Agrees to Pay $51 Million in S&L Case,” Plain Dealer, 4/20/1993.
46. $395 million: “Jones Day,” ALM Intelligence.
47. “If it was me alone”: Solov, 4/25/1993.
48. “The oft-heard justification”: Fisher, 2004.
Chapter 9: Judas Day
1. “His playground was a field”: Brandt, 1993.
2. until he discovered the magic: Stephen J. Brogan, “Jones Day recalls with gratitude Pat McCartan’s leadership,” Jones Day website, 12/1/2020.
3. As an undergrad: King, 1982.
4. A few years later: Brandt, 1993.
5. Eating lunch with other clerks: King, 1982.
6. became lifelong friends: Brogan, 2020.
7. Jack Reavis saw something: Brogan, 2020.
8. trotting out a chalkboard: King, 1982.
9. “as primped and pressed”: King, 1982.
10. “I was dealing with an individual”: King, 1982.
11. “He taught them to be lawyers”: Brandt, 1993.
12. “I would like to think”: Griswold, 389.
13. “I think it’s now apparent”: Brandt, 1993.
14. roster of lawyers declined: New York Times, “Survey Finds Retrenching in Law Firms,” 9/20/1993.
15. shut down the firm’s Austin office: Bruce Hight, “Jones Day attorneys finding new jobs after surprise announcement that Austin office will soon be closed,” Austin American-Statesman, 8/21/1994.
16. One fabled episode: Steven L. Kent, The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond, 2010, 394–95.
17. The jurors loved it: Kent, 394–95.
18. one of the largest awards ever: Teresa Riordan, “Nintendo Is Ordered to Pay $208 Million in Patent Case,” New York Times, 8/2/1994.
19. If they’re hiding this: Jackson, 2004.
20. Weber grilled a professor: Lubinger, 2000.
21. The president then watched the game: Fran Henry, “The Beginning of a Whole New Ballgame,” Plain Dealer, 4/7/1994.
22. The decision ticked off partners: Pogue email.
23. “Another tough day”: Jack Torry, Endless Summers: The Fall and Rise of the Cleveland Indians, 1996, 235–36.
24. Modell was in the box: Henry, 1994.
25. “A crummy old silo”: Dick Feagler, “For Mum Modell, It’s a Case of Hurt Feelings,” Plain Dealer, 9/1/1995.
26. Reporters tracked down Modell: Timothy Heider and Steven Koff, “Modell Declares That Browns Not for Sale to Quelch Rumor,” Plain Dealer, 11/3/1995.
27. wearing a bulletproof vest: Bart Hubbuch, “Shaken Modell lets lawyers plead his case,” York Daily Record, 1/18/1996.
28. season ticket holders accused: Christopher Evans, “Every Fan Meet Howard Beder,” Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine, 3/21/1999.
29. “Cleveland will long remember”: Joe Dirck, “Callers Scorn Idea of Team Poaching,” Plain Dealer, 11/14/1995.
30. called for Weber to resign: Daniel W. Hammer and David J. Hooker, “The Right to Legal Counsel,” Plain Dealer, 2/9/1996.
31. “serious personal threats”: Diane Solov, “Taking the Heat,” Plain Dealer, 2/13/1996.
32. Clients pulled their business: Solov, 1996.
33. fax lines were sabotaged: Lubinger, 2000.
34. “have a chilling effect”: Evans, 1999.
35. “It was kind of comical”: John C. Kuehner, “Little Guys Take on Big Boys From Browns,” Plain Dealer, 12/7/1995.
36. “Gazing upon wave after wave”: Dirck, 1995.
37. in orange face paint: Dirck, 1995.
38. “The life of a lawyer”: Robert J. Vickers, “Lawyer Is on His Own Turf for Browns,” Plain Dealer, 11/25/1995.
39. The headline on the front page: Brogan, 2020.
40. “Professionals do not walk away”: Solov, 1996.
Chapter 10: The Full Fredo
1. “That tells you the incredible”: Melissa Isaacson, “Power Behind Irish,” Chicago Tribune, 12/12/2004.
2. opened offices: Jones Day website, “Firm History.”
3. “It’s been in there”: Peter Krouse, “Choosing Jones Day’s next leader,” Plain Dealer, 1/12/2002.
4. Brogan was only thirty-seven: Jones Day, “Jones Day Introduces Seventh Managing Partner,” 11/18/2002.
5. the office was booming: Sims email.
6. one of his associates told me: Mike Gurdak email to author.
7. his mother suffered from health problems: Elizabeth Auster, “Jones Day’s Brogan: A man who doesn’t budge,” Plain Dealer, 12/21/2002.
8. his father, a lieutenant: Jones Day, 2002.
9. “Your dad just reeks”: Auster, 2002.
10. the Crusaders’ starting catcher: Bergen Catholic yearbook via Classmates.com.
11. “He didn’t back down”: Auster, 2002.
12. a degree in English: Boston College yearbook, 1974, 221
13. fantasized about being a cop: Auster, 2002.
14. “was an accomplished guy”: Auster, 2002.
15. As an up-and-coming lawyer, he represented: Jones Day, 2002.
16. the bin Laden family: Brogan letter to 9/11 Commission, 4/30/2004.
17. his favorite authors: Auster, 2002.
18. Pogue similarly cautioned: Pogue email.
19. To celebrate his mentor: Sims email.
20. Some four hundred: Inside Business, “Reception for new managing partner of Jones Day,” 1/1/2003.
21. pay their respects: Brian Tucker, “McCartan to leave wide-reaching legacy,” Crain’s Cleveland Business, 11/25/2002.
22. McCartan told attendees: Auster, 2002.
23. “Cop shoes”: Michael K. McIntyre and Jennifer Scott Cimperman, “Swearing commitment to Cleveland,” Plain Dealer, 11/20/2002.
24. “He’s an Irish Catholic”: McIntyre and Cimperman, 2002.
Chapter 11: Try to Save the Culture
1. its seventh iteration: Borowitz, 384.
2. “The move to ‘Jones Day’”: Jones Day Quarterly, “Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue Becomes Jones Day,” Spring 2003.
3. “We’re the investment banking people”: Alison Frankel, “And The Winner Is . . .” Corporate Counsel, 3/30/2002.
4. unveiled the day before: Jennifer Scott Cimperman, “Jones Day acquires London law firm,” Plain Dealer, 2/7/2003.
5. posed for photos: Photo from Jones Day Quarterly, Spring 2003.
6. Jones Day agreed to buy: Jonathan D. Glater, “Pennie & Edmonds Says It Is Being Acquired by Jones Day,” New York Times, 12/12/2003.
7. doubled in size: Adelle Waldman, “Jones Day now nation’s 2nd largest,” Plain Dealer, 1/25/2004.
8. “an important market for our clients”: Jones Day, “Jones Day Opens Moscow Office, Further Expanding Its International Presence,” Business Wire, 9/28/2004.
9. adviser to oligarch-owned conglomerates: Vladimir Lechtman profile on Jones Day website.
10. One of the firm’s senior associates: LinkedIn profile for Alexei Kostin.
11. Putin’s inner circle: Joanna Partridge, “Alisher Usmanov: Ex-fencer who ‘solves Putin’s business problems,’” Guardian, 3/3/2022.
12. “A firm spokesman declined comment”: Roy Strom, “Jones Day’s Brogan Stays in Top Role, Francisco, Orr Promoted,” Bloomberg Law, 1/26/2021.
13. Most major law firms: Regan and Rohrer, 132.
14. successfully defended IBM: Heller, 2004.
15. a pack-a-day smoker: Rick Merritt and Mike Santarini, “IBM begins building defense in chemical lawsuit,” EE Times, 11/9/2003.
16. Palmisano told him: Sam Palmisano interview with author.
17. Jones Day sent word: Paul Hodkinson, “Jones Day hits Gouldens staff with US-style billing,” Legal Week, 4/17/2003.
18. showed up in Colt’s corner: City of Cincinnati v. Beretta Corporation, Supreme Court of Ohio, 6/12/2002.
19. “From handguns to tobacco”: Matt Fleischer-Black, “Hard Cases,” American Lawyer, January 2004.
Chapter 12: Rogue Lawyers
1. Christian Meister was one of the first: Meister interview with author.
2. one of its four inaugural partners: Legal Week, “Four-partner raid secures Jones Day Munich launch,” 10/11/2002.
3. Before Brogan came to christen: Meister interview.
4. “You cannot do this”: Meister interview.
5. “That’s what friends are good for”: Meister interview.
6. Ricker left voluntarily: John Normile email to author.
7. The firm concluded: Normile email.
8. “Over the course of the last several years”: Jones Day letter to Falcon Waterfree Technologies, 12/21/2006, reviewed by author.
9. small amounts: Normile email.
10. a sentiment shared: Normile email.
11. hadn’t billed enough hours: Normile email.
12. noted in a report: Munich public prosecutor’s report, 6/21/2010, reviewed by author.
13. paint Meister as unhinged: Sebastian Orton interview with author.
14. barred foreign law firms: Nathan Koppel, “Shadow Practices,” American Lawyer, 11/1/2004.
15. Jones Day covered the costs: Jones Day v. Anand Pathak, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, 4/17/2014.
16. “establishing a practice in India”: Jones Day, “Jones Day establishes practice in India,” Business Wire, 11/1/1995.
17. later left Jones Day: National Law Journal, “Gibson poaches Jones Day for Singapore post,” 5/26/2008.
18. Brogan suggested that he oversee: Geoff Stewart email to author.
19. P&A was legally required: Koppel, 2004.
20. told his American colleagues: Anand Pathak interview with author.
21. To emphasize the separation: Pathak interview
22. “our heart belongs to Jones Day”: Koppel, 2004.
23. “to apply the funds”: Jones Day v. Pathak, 2014.
24. $250,000 to the American Indian Foundation: Jones Day v. Pathak, 2014.
25. and $500,000: Stewart email.
26. Brogan himself got on the phone: Pathak interview.
27. He wrote a letter: Stewart email.
28. Jones Day’s foundation contributed: Jones Day Foundation, 2012 Form 990.
29. Brogan and Stewart traveled: Stewart email.
30. highlighted the Holy Cross gift: Jones Day, “Materials Prepared for City of Detroit,” 3/5/2013.
31. dismissing the complaint: Pathak interview.
Chapter 13: Burning the Envelope
1. Megan had struggled: Megan Surber interview with author.
2. spruced up with carpet: Troy Kunkel interview with author.
3. Megan sanitized a bottle: Security National Bank of Sioux City, Iowa, vs. Abbott Laboratories, trial transcript, 2/15/2011.
4. The most common way: Security National Bank of Sioux City, Iowa, vs. Abbott Laboratories, complaint and jury demand.
5. didn’t get sick: Trial transcript, 2/15/2011.
6. Megan and Troy felt hope: Kunkel interview.
7. become an issue: Tim Bottaro interview with author.
8. Since 1987: Dan Reidy email to author.
9. pitch documents seeking new customers: Jones Day, “Materials Prepared for City of Detroit,” 3/5/2013.
10. the law firm had sued: Jones Day, “Abbott launches patent litigation against Sandoz,” January 2007.
11. It had defended Abbott: Jones Day, “Abbott prevails on appeal of first products liability trial involving Lupron,” May 2013.
12. one case in rural North Carolina: Sisk v. Abbott Laboratories, plaintiff’s memorandum in opposition of Abbott’s motion to dismiss, 7/13/2011.
13. In another case: Burks et al. v. Abbott et al., second amended complaint, 10/17/2008.
14. Reidy was the partner responsible: Reidy email.
15. Ghezzi had a specialty: Frankel, 2002.
16. He liked Ghezzi: Reidy email.
17. As he entered his chambers: Mark Bennett interview with author.
18. “incredible obstructionist conduct”: U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, ruling 8/27/2015.
19. an Eighth Amendment violation: Bennett interview.
20. “a lot of associates to keep busy”: Stephen Rathke interview with author.
21. federal rules of civil procedure: Eighth Circuit ruling, 2015.
22. interrupted 115 times: Eighth Circuit ruling, 2015.
23. Over and over and over: Judge Mark W. Bennett, “Memorandum Opinion and Order Regarding Sanctions,” 7/28/2014.
24. Abbott unsuccessfully sought a summary judgment: Eighth Circuit ruling, 2015.
25. There was no telling: Bennett interview.
26. Jones Day lawyers shut him down: Rathke interview.
27. “We’re not trying to blame”: Nick Hytrek, “Lawyers debate source of bacteria that caused Sioux City girl’s brain damage,” Sioux City Journal, 1/6/2014.
28. for seven hours: Nick Hytrek, “Jury finds baby formula maker not liable for Sioux City girl’s brain damage,” Sioux City Journal, 1/17/2014.
29. “I hate to tell you”: Kunkel interview.
30. “Well, I’m sorry”: Bennett memo on sanctions.
31. he got creative: Bennett memo on sanctions.
32. Bennett soon was fielding: Bennett interview.
Chapter 14: Make It Go Away
1. on display in his office: Sims email.
2. once gave a presentation: Exhibit in Tolton et al. v. Jones Day, Document 145.24.
3. Lovitt later described it: Traci Lovitt email to author.
4. The lawsuit ticked off: Tolton et al. v. Jones Day, 6/24/2019.
5. a partner warned her: Tolton et al. v. Jones Day, plaintiffs’ supplemental memorandum, 10/24/2019.
6. “You usually have to knock”: Vivia Chen, “Jones Day Partner Tells All (About Getting an Offer),” The Careerist, 5/21/2010.
7. played the game Fuck, Marry, Kill: Plaintiffs’ supplemental memorandum.
8. Jones Day informed her: Tolton deposition, 9/17/2019.
9. Tolton was struggling: Tolton deposition.
10. Jones Day, up until that point: Plaintiffs’ supplemental memorandum.
11. Their vitriol was so intense: Tolton deposition.
12. “What a royal tease”: Vivia Chen, “A Waste of Time? The War Against Jones Day Over Sex Bias Claims,” Bloomberg Law, 3/26/2021.
13. a confidential memo: Brogan memo, 3/11/2021, reviewed by author.
Chapter 15: Psychological Combat
1. inhabited the area: Sippican Historical Society website, “History of Marion, Massachusetts.”
2. decided to move there: Jason Reynolds interview with author.
3. more than murders: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, “The Toll of Tobacco in the United States,” 11/3/2021.
4. From a legal standpoint: Cheryl Sbarra interview with author.
5. more dangerous than normal tobacco: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Menthol and Cigarettes,” 7/16/2021.
6. mentioned the proposals: Jean Perry, “Marion to Ban Synthetic Drugs, Menthol Cigarettes,” The Wanderer, 8/12/2016.
7. the tobacco industry might sue: Jean Perry, “BOH Risks Lawsuit With Menthol Cig Ban,” The Wanderer, 8/25/2016.
8. It was steady, profitable: George Manning interview with author.
9. “We have a relationship”: Waldman, 2004.
10. “You can’t just pick”: Manning interview.
11. The trial was split: Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, “What Is the ‘Engle Progeny’ Litigation?,” September 2015.
12. Judges in Florida would instruct: Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, 2015.
13. Jones Day was averaging: Law.com, “No Egos Allowed: Jones Day, Winner of the Litigation Department of the Year,” 12/19/2017.
14. contesting its authority: Katie Buehler, “Tobacco Cos. Seek Extra Delay Of Graphic Cigarette Warnings,” Law360, 11/23/2020.
15. created a year earlier: Coalition for Responsible Retailing website, archived at Archive.org.
16. He was a spokesman: Robert Preer, “Heart of the matter,” Boston Globe, 7/3/2010.
17. since the mid-1990s: John H. Kennedy, “The cost of cutting back,” Boston Globe, 4/12/1994.
18. “Don’t discriminate”: Jean Perry, “BOH Hears From Retailers on Menthol Ban,” The Wanderer, 9/28/2017.
19. empowered states and localities: Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, “Fact Sheet 4: Unchanged State and Local Authority,” July 2009.
20. the only body in town: Reynolds interview.
21. a one-day alcohol license: Marion Board of Selectmen, Meeting Minutes, 10/4/2016.
22. Lane had already lobbied: Perry, 9/28/2017.
23. “put on the back burner”: Jean Perry, “Menthol Cigs on Back Burner,” The Wanderer, 4/27/2017.
24. would soon send flyers: Jean Perry, “Board Won’t Quit Nicotine Flavor Ban Pursuit,” The Wanderer, 11/21/2017.
25. “You’re essentially shutting us down”: Jean Perry, “More Opposition to Menthol Cig Ban,” The Wanderer, 10/27/2017.
26. “The town has limited resources”: Michael J. DeCicco, “Town prepares for possible tobacco industry lawsuit,” South Coast Today, 10/5/2016.
27. The guy shrugged: Reynolds interview.
Chapter 16: Dirty, Dirty, Dirty
1. industry mints money: American Lawyer rankings in 1985, 2020.
2. “We don’t do business”: Baker McKenzie website, “Code of Business Conduct.”
3. Baker McKenzie stands out: Sydney P. Freedberg, Agustin Armendariz, and Jesús Escudero, “How America’s biggest law firm drives global wealth into tax havens,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 10/4/2021.
4. “an architect and pillar”: Freedberg, Armendariz, and Escudero, 2021.
5. “I was comforted that”: Freedberg, Armendariz, and Escudero, 2021.
6. That is what happened: David Enrich, The Spider Network: The Wild Story of a Math Genius, a Gang of Backstabbing Bankers, and One of the Greatest Scams in Financial History, 2017, 316–19.
7. hired private investigators: Ronan Farrow, “Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies,” New Yorker, 11/6/2017.
8. surveilled the company’s critics: John Carreyrou, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, 2018, 135.
9. kept tabs on Carreyrou’s reporting: Barry Meier, Spooked: The Trump Dossier, Black Cube, and the Rise of Private Spies, 2021, 92–93.
10. more than $100 million a year: Casey Sullivan, “Inside Paul Weiss’ Relationship With Apollo Global Management,” Insider, 6/30/2021.
11. turned out to be true: Matthew Goldstein and Katherine Rosman, “Apollo C.E.O. to Step Down After Firm Finds More Payments to Jeffrey Epstein,” New York Times, 1/25/2021.
12. He warned that Paul Weiss: William D. Cohan, “‘The Truth Turns Out to Be Ugly,’” Vanity Fair, 4/27/2021.
13. eight cease-and-desist letters: Liz Day, Emily Steel, Rachel Abrams, and Samantha Stark, “Britney Spears Felt Trapped. Her Business Manager Benefited,” New York Times, 12/19/2021.
14. unwilling to risk litigation: Jim Waterson, “Bookshops threatened with legal action over book about Malaysian ‘playboy banker,’” Guardian, 9/14/2018.
15. agreed to hand over: Bruce Birenboim email to author.
16. Birenboim wasn’t done: Birenboim letter to Waxman, 2/24/2020, reviewed by author.
17. $1 trillion in mergers: American Lawyer, “With DuPont Deal, Skadden Breaks $1 Trillion M&A Barrier for 2015,” 12/11/2015.
18. died of heart failure: Jonathan D. Glater, “Joseph H. Flom, Pioneering Lawyer in Mergers and Acquisitions, Dies at 87,” New York Times, 2/23/2011.
19. He enlisted Skadden: Kenneth P. Vogel, “Skadden Said to Have Paid $11 Million to Settle Ukraine Dispute,” New York Times, 5/10/2020.
20. went to bat for Manafort: Sharon LaFraniere, “Trial of High-Powered Lawyer Gregory Craig Exposes Seamy Side of Washington Elite,” New York Times, 8/26/2019.
21. found no evidence: David M. Herszenhorn and David E. Sanger, “Failings Found in Trial of Ukrainian Ex-Premier,” New York Times, 12/12/2012.
22. more than $5 million: Vogel, 2020.
23. other Western governments: Kenneth P. Vogel and Andrew E. Kramer, “Skadden, Big New York Law Firm, Faces Questions on Work With Manafort,” New York Times, 9/21/2017.
24. at least $11 million: Vogel, 2020.
25. frail, wheelchair-bound, and very angry: David M. Herszenhorn, “Fresh From Prison, a Former Prime Minister Returns to the Political Stage,” New York Times, 2/23/14.
26. “dirty, dirty, dirty contract”: Vogel, 2020.
Chapter 17: Lurching to the Right
1. contacted dozens of Catholic organizations: Marcia Coyle, “Jones Day Is on a Mission,” National Law Journal, 2/17/2014.
2. “You have walked”: Dennis Brown, “In memoriam: Board chair emeritus Patrick F. McCartan,” Notre Dame News, 12/2/2020.
3. the plaintiffs ultimately collected: Ed Housewright and Brooks Egerton, “Diocese blames insurers in lack of Kos settlement,” Dallas Morning News, 10/30/1997; Rachel Zoll, “Dioceses sell land, borrow to pay for abuse,” Morning Journal, 3/4/2002.
4. was close with McCartan: Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, “Patrick F. McCartan left his mark as a man of faith, philanthropy and professionalism,” 12/10/2020.
5. seven-month grand jury inquiry: Regina Brett, “Diocese’s secrecy speaks volumes,” Plain Dealer, 3/5/2003.
6. exceeding the statute of limitations: Cory Shaffer, “Will Cleveland-area residents ever get to know the names of priests accused in the past?,” Cleveland.com, 10/2/2018.
7. open his office’s files: James F. McCarty, “Church, county at odds in priest scandal,” Plain Dealer, 2/9/2003.
8. a letter to Mason: McCarty, 2003.
9. The files would never: Shaffer, 2018.
10. a regular venue: Event invitations via politicalpartytime.org.
11. an academic paper: Adam Bonica, Adam S. Chilton, and Maya Sen, “The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers,” Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Research Working Paper Series, August 2015.
12. represent them pro bono: Rachel Zoll, “Catholic dioceses, colleges sue over Obama birth control mandate,” Associated Press, 5/21/2012.
13. “It’s a firmwide commitment”: Coyle, 2014.
14. a textile salesman: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “A Lawyer Taking Aim at the Health Care Act Gets a Supreme Court Rematch,” New York Times, 3/4/2015.
15. viewed liberal politics as irrational: Mike Carvin email to author.
16. “I had no marketable skills”: Carvin email.
17. Matalin gushed: Mary Matalin interview with author.
18. left him for James Carville: Lois Romano, “The Reliable Source,” Washington Post, 11/17/1993.
19. Vincere aut Mori: Otis Bilodeau, “How Cooper Carvin Came Apart,” National Law Journal, May 2001.
20. son of a Filipino immigrant: Mark Weiner, “Oswego’s Noel Francisco, likely solicitor general,” Syracuse.com, 3/10/2017.
21. shaping his conservative philosophy: Noel Francisco email to author.
22. With Steve Brogan’s backing: Carvin email to author.
23. “I’ve done a lot”: Vivia Chen, “Rise of the Right,” American Lawyer, July 2007.
24. one of the country’s sharpest: Francisco email.
25. promoted a lawyer: Chad Readler, Senate Judiciary Committee, Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, 2018.
26. argued against a ban: Chad A. Readler, “Make Death Penalty for Youth Widely Available,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, 2/24/2004.
27. an elementary school teacher: “Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Pending Nominations,” CQ Transcriptions, 10/10/2018.
28. called for eliminating: Carol Biliczky, “Constitution Phrase Troubles State Leader,” Akron Beacon Journal, 4/15/2014.
29. firms bragged: John Shiffman, “Former clerks: Today’s prospects, tomorrow’s elite,” Reuters, 12/8/2014.
30. about $100,000: Tony Mauro, “Competition for Supreme Court Clerks Intensifies,” Legal Intelligencer, 6/21/2004.
31. a total of about thirty: Tony Mauro, “Jones Day Continues Its Run on Former Supreme Court Clerks,” National Law Journal, 11/2/2015.
32. “When the numbers get so high”: Mauro, 2015.
33. “It’s really not that much”: Mauro, 2004.
34. sent to trade publications: Shiffman, 2014.
35. “There’s going to be a number”: Shiffman, 2014.
36. at one point fantasized: Greg Veis, “Megyn Kelly on Working for Fox News and Leaving Her Law Career,” GQ, 11/21/2010.
37. successfully defended the network: Jones Day, “Fox defeats first amendment lawsuit relating to COVID-19 news coverage,” May 2020.
38. the firm shielded Fox: Jones Day, “Fox’s dismissal of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims brought by former employee affirmed by D.C. Circuit,” March 2021.
39. an unsuccessful attempt to neuter: Ashby Jones, “The Jones Day Lawyers Looking to Take Down SOX,” Wall Street Journal, 11/20/2019.
40. briefs on Buckeye’s behalf: Buckeye Institute, “The Buckeye Institute Files Legal Briefs Supporting Ohio Election Laws,” 7/12/2016.
41. helped advance Buckeye’s argument: Jones Day, “Buckeye Institute submits brief in support of certiorari in challenge of CFPB structure,” October 2018.
42. “for the public good”: American Bar Association, “A Guide and Explanation to Pro Bono Services,” 5/13/2021.
43. about one speech a month: Noel Francisco, Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire, 2017.
44. “I always say yes”: Federalist Society video, The Second Amendment: Enforcing the Heller Decision, 11/19/2016.
45. “The government’s tentacles invade”: Jones Day promotional video, Government Regulation and Overreach Challenges, 8/10/2015.
46. “Jones Day’s Moby Dick”: James Schroeder, “Fight Club: Jones Day is ready, willing and able to go toe-to-toe with the feds,” American Lawyer, January 2016.
47. In another, Carvin represented: Coyle, 2014.
48. his first defeat: Stolberg, 2015.
49. “Take a breath”: Stolberg, 2015.
50. he would later explain: Marcia Coyle and Mike Scarcella, “What to Know About Noel Francisco as the New SCOTUS Term Nears,” New York Law Journal, 9/22/2017.
51. went to check on him: Alan Blinder and Manny Fernandez, “Ranch Owner Recalls Finding Justice Antonin Scalia’s Body,” New York Times, 2/14/2016.
52. “Justice Scalia did not just defend”: “The Legacy of Justice Scalia,” Heritage Foundation event, 5/19/2016.
53. “assaults on freedom of religion”: Ann Rodgers, “Diocese says government slow to resolve contraception impasse,” Catholic News Service, 8/25/2016.
Chapter 18: The Bloody Eighth
1. in four straight elections: Dirk Johnson, “The 2000 Campaign: An Indiana Race,” New York Times, 10/10/2000.
2. a three-member committee: Julian E. Zelizer, “A 1985 Recount Is Suddenly Relevant Again,” Atlantic, 11/12/2018.
3. failed the bar exam: Jan Baran interview with author.
4. assigned Ginsberg the task: Baran interview.
5. radicalized Ginsberg: Jake Tapper, Down and Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency, 2001, 47.
6. known as Project Ratfuck: David Daley, Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count, 2016, 34–36.
7. elevated him to national prominence: Tapper, 39.
8. helped the Swift Boat Veterans: Patrick Healy, “Bush lawyer quits over tie to anti-Kerry veterans,” Boston Globe, 8/26/2004.
9. McGahn thought to himself: Don McGahn speech at Widener University, 2/25/2020.
10. partly a byproduct: Jeffrey Toobin, “The Great Election Grab,” New Yorker, 12/8/2003.
11. McGahn’s phone rang: McGahn speech at Widener.
12. didn’t hang with the jocks: New York Times’ The Weekly, “Mr. McGahn,” 10/25/2019.
13. “to work harder than those”: McGahn email to author.
14. Republicans were galvanized: McGahn speech at Widener.
15. “I ended up latching onto Ben”: McGahn speech at Stockton University, 1/30/2020.
16. the more McGahn learned: McGahn speech at Widener.
17. rock group that billed itself: Andy Kroll, “Better call Don,” Mother Jones, May 2017.
18. more than thirty guitars: Clifford Hall, “Former White House official Don McGahn: ‘I know how tough the life of a musician is,’” Guitar World, 8/10/2020.
19. “It was extra-Constitutional”: “Discussion and Q&A with Don McGahn,” Federalist Society’s Florida chapter, 2/1/2020.
20. caused such an uproar: Ben Terris, “Trump’s own Beltway establishment guy: The curious journey of Don McGahn,” Washington Post, 4/11/2016.
21. blocking the investigation: Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz, “Who is Donald McGahn, the fiery lawyer at the center of virtually every Trump controversy?,” Washington Post, 2/15/2017.
22. “in a death spiral”: McGahn speech at Widener.
23. Francisco cheered: Wilson and Ho, 2014.
Chapter 19: Trump’s Stallion
1. pledging $1.5 million: American Lawyer, “How Don McGahn Introduced Jones Day to Politics,” March 2017.
2. defending the National Rifle Association: McGahn letter to Federal Election Commission, 8/5/2015.
3. a group affiliated with the Koch brothers: American Lawyer, 2017.
4. one other key client: C. Ryan Barber and Katelyn Polantz, “Trump Lawyers’ Financial Disclosures Reveal Big Law Salaries, Client Lists,” National Law Journal, April 2017.
5. become his first client: American Lawyer, 2017.
6. “Everyone in Washington knows”: Eric Lichtblau, “A Combative Counsel for Trump White House,” New York Times, 12/13/2016.
7. at his Fifth Avenue skyscraper: One America News, “OAN Exclusive: Don McGahn,” 7/20/2016.
8. Trump signed a book: McGahn speech at Widener.
9. a power broker: Iver Peterson, “Patrick T. McGahn Jr., 72, Lawyer for Casinos,” New York Times, 8/3/2000.
10. sued his former lawyer: Schmidt, 132.
11. heaped praise on the man: McGahn at Stockton University.
12. resonated with McGahn: McGahn at Stockton University.
13. “Good for you”: New York Times’ The Weekly, 2019.
14. To underscore his seriousness: Robert Costa, “Trump says he is serious about 2016 bid, is hiring staff and delaying TV gig,” Washington Post, 2/25/2015.
15. On April 23, 2015: Federal Election Commission records.
16. more than $29,000: FEC records.
17. He stood on the mezzanine: Adam Wren, Tom LoBianco, Warren Rojas, Nicole Gaudiano, and Darren Samuelsohn, “The definitive oral history of how Trump took over the GOP,” Insider, 7/18/2021.
18. McGahn beat back: Heather Haddon, “Effort to Knock Donald Trump Off N.H. Ballot Fails,” Wall Street Journal, 11/24/2015.
19. handling the selection and wrangling: McGahn at Stockton University.
20. nearly $600,000: FEC records.
Chapter 20: You Can Count Me In
1. It was Trump’s idea: McGahn at Federalist Society’s Florida chapter.
2. McGahn’s judicial philosophy: Jason Zengerle, “How the Trump Administration Is Remaking the Courts,” New York Times Magazine, 8/22/2018.
3. quite the conversation starter: McGahn Lunch Address to Federalist Society Western Chapters Conference, 2/19/2019.
4. McGahn called Bunch: McGahn speech to Federalist Society, “17th Annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture,” 11/18/2017.
5. showed up at Jones Day’s Capitol Hill office: Paul Kane, “Trump courts lawmakers at Capitol Hill law firm, wins lobbyist backing,” Washington Post, 3/21/2016.
6. instructed everyone to enter: New York Times’ The Weekly, 2019.
7. “to assure he would be seen”: Kane, 2016.
8. “Why don’t I put out a list”: Don McGahn and Mitch McConnell, “Judicial Nominations in the Trump Administration,” Federalist Society Kentucky Chapters Conference, 10/7/2019.
9. a bit more than an hour: Kane, 2016.
10. “making America great again”: Kane, 2016.
11. “It was a beginning meeting”: Kristina Peterson, “Newt Gingrich, GOP Lawmakers Huddle With Donald Trump,” Dow Jones Newswires, 3/21/2016.
12. a team led by McGahn and Leo: McGahn at Federalist Society’s Florida chapter.
13. “The list reassured”: McGahn and McConnell, 2019.
Chapter 21: A Lawless Hobbesian Nightmare
1. one lawyer vented: David Lat, “Jones Day: Helping Donald Trump to Make America Great Again,” Above the Law, 3/21/2016.
2. Jones Day notified its staff: Susan Beck, “Trump’s Lawyers to Close Office During Convention,” New York Law Journal, 5/13/2016.
3. splashed behind each of them: Jones Day, “Jones Day Presidential Forum: 2016 Policy Insights,” 8/2/2016.
4. the idea was vetoed: Jones Day list of approved/unapproved items bearing firm name/logo, reviewed by author.
5. the lawyers made no effort: Susan Beck, “During RNC, Jones Day Hosts Panel,” National Law Journal, 7/25/2016.
6. “It’s a great day”: One America News, 2016.
7. infuriated the business lobby: Michael Isikoff, “No. 2 Aide at Justice Quits Post,” Washington Post, 5/12/1990.
8. after six months: Ronald J. Ostrow, “Aide Says Thornburgh Meddled in Leak Probe,” Los Angeles Times, 5/20/1990.
9. a top Thornburgh aide sniffed: Isikoff, 1990.
10. “Donald Trump’s impulsive temperament”: “Statement by Former U.S. Department of Justice Officials,” 10/10/2016, reviewed by author.
11. filed a complaint: Campaign Legal Center, “Donald Trump Is Illegally Soliciting Money from Foreign Nationals to Fund His Presidential Campaign,” 6/29/2016.
Chapter 22: A Nice Little Cushion
1. “You’ve got to get everybody”: Eric Heisig, “Judge’s order aims to head off voter intimidation,” Plain Dealer, 11/5/2016.
2. “racially charged calls”: Mark Gillispie, “Judge issues order to stop voter harassment by Trump backers,” Associated Press, 11/4/2016.
3. “are perfectly within their rights”: Eric Heisig, “Trump campaign lawyer defends ‘poll watching’ targeted in lawsuit,” Plain Dealer, 11/3/2016.
4. Did Readler truly believe: Heisig, 11/5/2016.
5. preparing to fight recounts: McGahn at Stockton University.
6. a break from the tradition: Zengerle, 2018.
7. half as many unfilled judgeships: Zengerle, 2018.
8. “Just do this yourself”: McGahn and McConnell, 2019.
9. Trump agreed: Schmidt, 7.
10. The firm’s lawyers were responsible: Zoe Tillman, “Trump Taps Kirkland, Jones Day Lawyers to Lead DOJ Transition,” New York Law Journal, 11/22/2016.
11. definition of pro bono work: ABA, 2021.
12. Reporters at the event noticed: Mike Moffitt, “Were folders stuffed with Trump’s ‘business plan’ papers blank props?,” SFGate, 1/12/2017.
13. surrounded with his colleagues: “President Donald J. Trump Announces Key Additions to the Office of the White House Counsel,” WhiteHouse.gov, 3/7/2017.
14. Brinton Lucas: Jones Day, “Brinton Lucas rejoins Jones Day’s Issues & Appeals Practice in Washington,” April 2021.
15. recently had helped defend: Astead W. Herndon, “Trump civil rights nominee went from government advocate to corporate hired gun,” Boston Globe, 7/10/2017.
16. company was a Jones Day client: Search for “WL Ross” on Jones Day website.
17. “I don’t know of a precedent”: Paul Barrett, “Donald Trump’s Favorite Law Firm,” Bloomberg News, 3/16/2017.
18. a grand total of three partners: Jones Day Quarterly, “Justice Is Served,” Fall 2001.
19. permitted Brogan to make these payments: Sims email.
20. “I don’t think that’s true”: Recorded conversation disclosed in Tolton, et al. v. Jones Day, Document 115–11.
21. Every four years: Carvin email.
22. “Light meals and refreshments”: Ellevate, “Inauguration Day Open House with Ellevate and Jones Day.”
23. including Mike Carvin and Noel Francisco: Carvin and Francisco emails.
Chapter 23: Rich, Pissed Off, and Wrong
1. One was Mike Carvin: David Lat, “Jones Day in the (White) House,” Above The Law, 1/19/2017.
2. McGahn had recommended him: McGahn email.
3. “Noel and I have been”: Ted Cruz, “Sen. Cruz Praises Nomination of Noel Francisco as U.S. Solicitor General,” Ted Cruz’s Senate website, 3/10/2017.
4. “Frankly the most interesting law practice”: Francisco interview at Catholic University, 1/24/2018.
5. considered it his dream job: Jasmin Melvin, Maya Weber, and Christopher Newkumet, “In wake of McIntyre death, attention turns to replacement,” Platts Inside FERC, 1/7/2019.
6. diagnosed with a brain tumor: Kevin McIntyre, “Letter From FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre,” FERC, 10/22/2018.
7. shot down a push: Steven Mufson, “Kevin McIntyre, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman, dies at 58,” Washington Post, 1/3/2019.
8. “his high civic calling”: Mufson, 2019.
9. developed a specialty in: Sheila Kaplan, “Trump Pick to Head Consumer Safety Board Is Seen as Too Close to Industries,” New York Times, 12/6/2017.
10. She represented Honeywell: C. Ryan Barber, “Jones Day Partner Picked to Flip Product Safety Agency,” National Law Journal, 9/22/2017.
11. In a booklet for clients: Jones Day, “The Era of the Global Product Recall: Overview of Issues,” May 2008.
12. were on the rise: Barber, 2017.
13. didn’t penalize a single company: Todd C. Frankel, “Product recalls under Trump fall to lowest level in 16 years,” Washington Post, 1/13/2020.
14. the CPSC had previously signed off: Paul Nathanson, Britax spokesman, email to author.
15. “I think it was good”: Todd C. Frankel, “After hundreds of crashes, this Britax jogging stroller faced recall. Then Trump appointees stepped in,” Washington Post, 4/2/2019.
16. replacement bolts proved defective: Todd C. Frankel, “Britax avoided one recall for its BOB stroller. But its crash fix leads to a recall now,” Washington Post, 7/25/2019.
17. similar events in the past: Sims email.
18. “tacky, tasteless, bush league”: Joe Patrice, “Jones Day Advertising Its Trump Admin Ties Because They Have No Shame,” Above the Law, 4/25/2017.
Chapter 24: Subsidizing Trump
1. filed the paperwork: Trump letter to Federal Election Commission, 1/20/2017.
2. fell to Jones Day: Kenneth P. Vogel and Rachel Shorey, “Trump Campaign Spending on Legal Fees Surges as Russia Inquiries Widen,” New York Times, 10/15/2017.
3. Jones Day also would handle: Kenneth P. Vogel and Rachel Shorey, “About 25% of Trump’s Re-election Spending Continues to Go to Lawyers,” New York Times, 2/1/2018.
4. relationship with Cambridge Analytica: Stewart Crosland letter to FEC, 5/25/2018.
5. Brogan, too, took part: McGahn email.
6. White House lawyers waived: White House memo from Stefan C. Passantino and James D. Schultz, 4/26/2017.
7. “I rated the ability”: McGahn speech at Oxford Union, 4/22/2019.
8. noticing strangers in airports: McGahn at Federalist Society Western Conference.
9. “Their clashes were primal”: Schmidt, 5.
10. “We’re proud to have represented”: Roy Strom, “A Quiet Firm With a Famous Client,” American Lawyer, March 2017.
11. Jones Day broadened this effort: Jones Day website, “Pro Bono: Immigration—The Border Project.”
12. representing hundreds of women and children: Jones Day website, “Pro Bono: Immigration—The Border Project.”
13. nearly $200 million: Laura Tuell email to author.
14. clients sent their in-house lawyers: Tuell email.
15. In a 2018 interview: Larkin, 2018.
16. Jones Day helped file the paperwork: Tom LoBianco and Dave Levinthal, “Jared Kushner helped create a Trump campaign shell company that secretly paid the president’s family members and spent $617 million in reelection cash, a source tells Insider,” Insider, 12/18/2020.
17. Nearly $800 million: Center for Responsive Politics, “Vendor/Recipient Profile: American Made Media Consultants,” 2/1/2021.
18. at Jones Day’s D.C. offices: Sarah N. Lynch, “U.S. Justice Dept targets discrimination against houses of worship,” Reuters, 6/13/2018.
19. a total of $7.5 million: Author’s analysis of Trump federal election filings.
20. hadn’t pocketed more than $1 million: Center for Responsive Politics, “Vendor/Recipient Profile: Jones Day.”
Chapter 25: Bizarre Coincidences
1. a well-known phenomenon: Jesse Drucker and Danny Hakim, “How Accounting Giants Craft Favorable Tax Rules From Inside Government,” New York Times, 9/19/2021.
2. signed their names: Justice Department settlement agreement with Catholic organizations, 10/13/2017.
3. “For too long”: Administration of Donald J. Trump, “Remarks on Signing a Proclamation on the National Day of Prayer,” 5/4/2017.
4. issued a rule: Michelle Hackman, “Trump Administration Rolls Back Obama Rule on Birth-Control Coverage,” Dow Jones Newswires, 10/6/2017.
5. handled the talks: Carol Zimmerman, “Groups settle in lawsuit against HHS contraceptive mandate,” Catholic Telegraph, 10/17/2017.
6. pay Jones Day $3 million: Zoe Tillman, “The Trump Administration Agreed to Pay More Than $3 Million in Legal Fees to Settle Contraception Mandate Lawsuits,” BuzzFeed News, 1/9/2018.
7. hired as a partner: Jones Day, “Jones Day adds Brett Shumate, Margaret ‘Peggy’ Blake in Washington,” August 2019.
8. “Shamoil was an energetic leader”: Mark Curriden, “Shipchandler resigns as SEC regional director,” Texas Lawbook, 1/25/2019.
9. trying to derail those state inquiries: Associated Press, “SEC drops investigation into Exxon climate change response,” 8/3/2018.
10. “We have concluded the investigation”: Shipchandler letter to Woodcock, 8/2/2018, reviewed by author.
11. trumpeted the letter to the media: Associated Press, 2018.
Chapter 26: Redefining Shamefulness
1. would adjudicate sibling spats: Natalie Posgate, “Joshua Russ: The Whistleblower,” Texas Lawbook, 8/10/2021.
2. “I like to be able to sleep”: Posgate, 2021.
3. “I liked that Josh”: Posgate, 2021.
4. The prosecutors soon discovered: USA v. Walmart, Complaint, 12/22/2020.
5. they were preparing to indict: Jesse Eisinger and James Bandler, “Walmart Was Almost Charged Criminally Over Opioids. Trump Appointees Killed the Indictment,” ProPublica, 3/25/2020.
6. to resolve the two cases: Eisinger and Bandler, 2020.
7. taken a job at Jones Day: Jason Varnado email to author.
8. “We are not about self-protection”: Schroeder, 2016.
9. a letter to the deputy U.S. attorney general: Eisinger and Bandler, 2020.
10. a subsequent letter to DOJ: Eisinger and Bandler, 2020.
11. instructed him to halt: Eisinger and Bandler, 2020.
12. on the department’s org chart: Justice Department, “DOJ GEN Chart on DOJ Leadership,” 10/22/2018.
13. helped the firm line up: Emails between Readler and Curt Kirschner, 12/2017, obtained by author via FOIA.
14. also working with Mike Carvin: Email between Readler and Alex Haas, 5/11/17, obtained by author via FOIA.
15. more than a dozen Jones Day: Search for “Purdue” on Jones Day website.
16. “Not that there isn’t room”: Patrick Radden Keefe, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, 2021, 381.
17. boasted about: Jones Day, “Materials Prepared for City of Detroit,” 3/5/2013.
18. increased overdose rates: Keefe, 346, 408.
19. now turned instead: Keefe, 312.
20. decided to stop complying: Hewitt letter to Eyler, 9/27/2019.
21. told to stand down: Posgate, 2021.
22. Trump visited a Walmart: Matthew Adams, “Ivanka Trump to visit Mesquite on Friday to see how Walmart trains workers for today’s economy,” Dallas Morning News, 9/19/2018.
23. a farewell letter: Russ letter, 10/25/2019.
24. FedExed a complaint: Posgate, 2021.
25. cowrote an article: Eisinger and Bandler, 2020.
26. issued a public statement: Justice Department, “U.S. Attorney Brown Announces Departure from Office,” 5/26/2020.
27. “The President has clearly conveyed”: Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett, “Former U.S. attorneys—all Republicans—back Biden, saying Trump threatens ‘the rule of law,’” Washington Post, 10/27/2020.
28. Walmart sued: Walmart v. Justice Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, et al., 10/22/2020.
29. Justice Department filed: USA v. Walmart, Complaint, 12/22/2020.
Chapter 27: No Vacancy Left Behind
1. had to leave in a hurry: Charlie Savage, “Counsel Quietly Trying to Corral Trump While Pushing G.O.P.’s Agenda,” New York Times, 1/26/2018.
2. “I can’t believe you didn’t”: Schmidt, 344.
3. had drawn Trump’s ire: Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman, “McGahn, Soldier for Trump and Witness Against Him, Leaves White House,” New York Times, 10/17/2018.
4. more than 150 judges: McGahn speech at Widener.
5. “I am you”: McGahn at Federalist Society Western Conference.
6. “Why the Left is triggered”: New York Times’ The Weekly, 2019.
7. write him a letter of recommendation: Schmidt, 346.
8. Monday in March 2019: Jones Day, “Former White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II returns to Jones Day as Practice Leader of Government Regulation,” 3/4/2019.
9. a few days after: Schmidt, 350.
10. passing on their résumés: Rob Luther email to Stephen Vaden, 4/2/2017, obtained by author via FOIA.
11. “The insights and understanding”: Jones Day, “Jones Day adds Brett Shumate, Margaret ‘Peggy’ Blake in Washington,” August 2019.
12. Gore was accused in court: Caroline Spiezio, “Former senior DOJ attorney rejoins Jones Day,” Reuters Legal, 11/11/2019.
13. which a federal judge emphasized: Brian Flood, “Trump Administration Sanctioned in 2020 Citizenship Case,” Bloomberg Law, 5/21/2020.
14. argued seventeen cases: Justice Department, “Solicitor General Noel Francisco Announces Departure from Department of Justice,” 6/17/2020.
15. Katsas swore Readler in: Readler email to Civil Division staff, 3/12/2019.
16. “We’re very proud”: Jones Day, “Former Jones Day lawyers Chad Readler, Eric E. Murphy confirmed to U.S. Sixth Circuit seats,” March 2019.
17. “I am honored to serve”: Emails between Vaden, Luther, and Tim Murtaugh, obtained by author via FOIA.
18. Vaden was unpopular: Catherine Boudreau, “Low morale plagues USDA legal team under Trump’s general counsel nominee,” Politico Pro Agriculture, 12/4/2017.
19. “I selected Jones Day”: Jones Day promotional video, Former U.S. Supreme Court Clerks Join Jones Day’s Issues & Appeals Practice, 3/11/2020.
20. deemed her “not qualified”: Letter from ABA to Lindsey Graham and Dianne Feinstein, 9/8/2020.
21. Jones Day hired Chad: Jones Day, “Jones Day welcomes Chad Mizelle to Government Regulation Practice in Miami and Washington,” January 2021.
Chapter 28: Fearmongering
1. a fiery opinion piece: Benjamin L. Ginsberg, “Republicans have insufficient evidence to call elections ‘rigged’ and ‘fraudulent,’” Washington Post, 9/8/2020.
2. a group of twelve prominent Republican officials: Amicus curiae brief filed by Tom Ridge et al. in Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar, 10/2/2020.
3. Barely 10,000 mail-in ballots arrived: Pennsylvania Department of State, “Department of State Provides Update on Election Results,” 11/13/2020.
4. At 11:25 a.m. on Saturday: Brian Slodysko, “Explainer: Why AP called Pennsylvania for Biden,” Associated Press, 11/7/2020.
5. more than three out of every four mail-in ballots: Pennsylvania election results at electionreturns.pa.gov.
Chapter 29: We Dissent
1. The son of a teacher-turned-school-superintendent: Tom Hals, “Newsmaker: Detroit financial manager steps up from second fiddle,” Reuters, 3/14/2013.
2. “stellar reputation for integrity”: Kevyn Orr email to author.
3. A group called Rise and Resist: Arriana McLymore, “Law student group aims one-two punch at Big Law over Trump ties,” Reuters Legal, 11/14/2020.
4. warn students about working for the firm: Dan Packel, “Polarizing Election Work, Discrimination Suits May Dent Jones Day’s Appeal to Young Lawyers,” American Lawyer, 12/17/2020.
5. Sparkle Sooknanan: American Lawyer, “DC Rising Stars: Sparkle Sooknanan, 36,” 8/3/2020.
6. he’d spent nearly two years: Parker Rider-Longmaid profile on LinkedIn.
7. “The following lawyers are leaving”: Internal Jones Day memo, 1/29/2021, reviewed by author.
Epilogue: The Black Book
1. he’d defended federal agents’ detention: Clare Roth and Malathi Nayak, “Oregon Battles With U.S. in Court on Federal Agents in Portland,” Bloomberg Law, 7/22/2020.
2. raised concerns inside the Justice Department: Adam Goldman, Katie Benner, and Ben Protess, “Material From Giuliani Spurred a Separate Justice Dept. Pursuit of Hunter Biden,” New York Times, 12/11/2020.
3. In his new job: Jones Day, “Scott Brady, former U.S. Attorney for Western District of Pennsylvania, joins Jones Day in Pittsburgh,” March 2021.
4. “Brinton will add great value”: Jones Day, “Brinton Lucas rejoins Jones Day’s Issues & Appeals Practice in Washington,” April 2021.
5. He had defended Trump’s ban: Yeganeh Torbati and Mica Rosenberg, “U.S. lawyer defending travel ban grilled in court over Trump’s tweets,” Reuters, 12/8/2017.
6. hired back by Francisco: Jones Day, “James Burnham returns to Jones Day as partner in Firm’s Issues & Appeals Practice in Washington,” September 2021.
7. In the spring of 2021: Mike Spector and Dan Levine, “Inside J&J’s secret plan to cap litigation payouts to cancer victims,” Reuters, 2/4/2022.
8. already executed this strategy: Jamie Smyth, Kate Beioley, and Sujeet Indap, “‘Texas two-step’ outcry risks ending fee bonanza for law firm Jones Day,” Financial Times, 2/6/2022.
9. codenamed Project Plato: Spector and Levine, 2022.
10. the company framed this: Johnson & Johnson news release, “Johnson & Johnson Takes Steps to Equitably Resolve All Current and Future Talc Claims,” 10/14/2021.
11. “a fee bonanza”: Smyth, Beioley, and Indap, 2022.
12. Legal scholars cried foul: Smyth, Beioley, and Indap, 2022.
13. claimed that this structure was unconstitutional: Consumers’ Research v. CPSC, complaint, 7/2/2021.
14. “no argument too extreme”: Ruth Marcus, “Opinion: Mitch McConnell’s un-conservative plea to the Supreme Court,” Washington Post, 12/30/2021.
15. well over $19 million: FEC records via Open Secrets.
16. spewing lies about the election: Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman, “Trump’s PAC collected $75 million this year,” Washington Post, 7/22/2021.
17. a prolific peddler of misinformation: John Nichols, “Ron Johnson Gets Caught Debunking the Big Lie,” The Nation, 9/2/2021.
18. Trump wannabes in Pennsylvania: Mike Scarcella, “Dr. Oz turns to law firm Jones Day for consulting in U.S. Senate bid,” Reuters, 2/1/2022.
19. and Alabama: Federal Election Commission spending records for Durant for Senate.
20. Gulick sat at a table in her home: Lissy Gulick interview with author.
21. Inside was a collection of letters: Thomas H. Jones memorial book, reviewed by author.