The largest legal expense in the Donald Trump campaign is not a big name Washington or New York legal outfit, but a little known Beverly Hills law firm – but why?
Harder LLP has been taking the lion’s share of Trump’s legal expenditure with a $2 million payout in the past two years and more to come as it plays the Trump playbook of attacking media outlets.
Harder’s lead partner, Charles Harder, is perhaps best known for attacking and destroying the website Gawker, but it continues with letters sent to newsrooms that allege defamation, including the recently announced lawsuit against the New York Times over an opinion piece about the Russia scandal.
A CNN report Friday said that Harder’s work for the Trump campaign mirrors the President’s affinity for loudly and publicly slamming news outlets. And it suggests more active efforts to take on the media will be part of the Trump campaign’s reelection playbook.
Trump stood by his latest lawsuit Wednesday, CNN reported.
“They did a bad thing,” Trump said of the NY Times lawsuit. And he indicated that Harder may come some more.
“And there will be more coming.”
Most often, campaigns hire trial lawyers to defend them if the candidates get sued before an election, or in the case of recounts, but the use of Harder indicates Trump is taking a more offensive approach, which suits the aggressive attorney.
.”Is it permissible to pay a firm like Harder to file lawsuits against The New York Times like they did on behalf of the campaign? It’s permissible under the rules — but it is unusual,” said Matthew Sanderson, a Washington political law expert who has advised presidential campaigns for John McCain, Rick Perry and Rand Paul.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that before.”The growth in Harder’s campaign work is clear in Federal Election Commission disclosures. The Trump campaign started paying Harder LLP for legal consulting in 2018, according to FEC records. The campaign paid him roughly $218,000 that year.
But in 2019 and 2020, the campaign’s payments to Harder grew exponentially with the firm taking in nearly $1.7 million from the Trump campaign in 2019 and another $330,000 in January 2020.
The use of litigation as an election strategy may be unusual, but so too is much about Donald Trump’s presidency.
The Latest LawFuel News
- Freshfield’s ‘Dream Team’ Open Silicon Valley OfficePowered by LawFuel – (1 July 2020) – Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP today announced that it will be […]
- The Heydon Sex Scandal Hitting The Australian High CourtFormer Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward writes about the sex discrimination decision made by the Australian […]
- Senior Criminal Law Barrister Who Pulled Faces at Judge FinedMarguerite Russell is a highly experienced and capable criminal law barrister, but her disagreement with the ruling […]
- Goodwin Procter’s ‘Stealth Layoffs’ For AssociatesJennifer Bridges – Big Law firm Goodwin Procter is apparently implementing layoffs by stealth according to reports. […]
- Hacked Law Firm Sees Lady Gaga, Madonna Data Stolen Via CyberattackA major entertainment law firm has lost data to a raft of major, A-List entertainment figures including […]
- US Justice Department Recover More In Largest Ever Civil Forfeiture Claim in Bribery & Money Laundering Scheme At $1.1 BillionUnited States Reaches Settlement to Recover More Than $49 Million of Assets Acquired with Funds Misappropriated from […]
- Largest Law Firm Chair Says “Going Back to the Office” Will Never Be The SameJoe Andrew* – With 19,000 employees in 183 offices in 75 countries, most working remotely, I keep […]
- How Coronavirus Is Affecting The Future Of Legal EducationOver 91 per cent of the world’s student population is impacted by the nationwide closures due to […]
- Law Firm Management – Why The Pandemic Should Be Creating More Diverse Law Firms – Not FewerDebra Pickett* The tremendous economic uncertainty emerging in the wake of COVID-19 is forcing law firm leaders […]
- Law Firm Crisis Management After The COVID Crisis ‘Black Swan EventPaul Smith* Partners in many law firms are greatly concerned as to what the future will bring […]
