Williams & Connolly Partner Pay Gets Close-Up From Trump Trade Nominee
Curtis J. Mahoney, a Williams & Connolly partner who is the Trump administration's pick for a deputy U.S. trade representative post, reported $833,000 in partnership income from the Washington firm, according to documents the U.S. Office of Government Ethics publicly released Tuesday. The disclosure offers a rare look inside the storied Washington partnership.
August 08, 2017 at 09:32 AM
42 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
Curtis J. Mahoney, a Williams & Connolly partner who is the Trump administration's pick for a deputy U.S. trade representative post, reported $833,000 in partnership income from the Washington firm, according to documents the U.S. government ethics office publicly released Tuesday.
The disclosure offers a rare look inside the storied Washington partnership, which is known as much for its loyalty among partners—who almost never leave or join from rival firms—as it is for its confidentiality regarding finances.
Mahoney, who goes by C.J., joined Williams & Connolly in November 2008 and was promoted to partner two years ago. He specializes in international disputes and arbitration. President Donald Trump picked him for deputy U.S. trade representative overseeing investment, services, labor, environment, Africa, China and the Western Hemisphere. The office reportedly is expected to bring an intellectual property trade case against China soon.
Mahoney reported he will receive “a pro rata share of distributable net earnings as a partner calculated as of the day I withdraw from the firm.” He identified his anticipated partnership share at between $500,000 and $1 million.
The financial disclosure, required for certain political appointees, also provided a fuller glimpse of Mahoney's work at the firm. Mahoney identified clients, including 21st Century Fox, News Corp., Merck & Co., Samsung Electronics America Inc. and the Carlyle Group. He provided legal services to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and to the law firm Hunton & Williams. Mahoney represented the firm as an interested party in a defamation case in Maryland federal district court. Separately, in 2012, Mahoney was on the legal team—with Williams & Connolly's Emmet Flood—that represented the Koch brothers in a suit against the Cato Institute.
In his disclosure, Mahoney cited a confidentiality provision in D.C. attorney-ethics rules in declining to identify five clients. He provided legal services to a technology company and to a U.S. public official who are both subject to a non-public U.S. Justice Department investigation. Mahoney further said two clients—a U.S. private equity executive and a Brazilian businessman—are involved in confidential arbitration proceedings. Mahoney declined to identify an unnamed Roman Catholic diocese that is grappling with what he described as “alleged clerical abuse of minors.”
Mahoney declined to comment Tuesday.
Williams & Connolly last week found itself amid a swirl of reports—and a denial—about merger talks with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Williams & Connolly said there no deal was in the works. “While Quinn Emanuel is an excellent law firm, we are happy just the way we are. We have no plans to merge with them or any other law firm,” Dane Butswinkas, chairman of Williams & Connolly, said in a statement last week.
Williams & Connolly reports that it has about 300 lawyers, all in Washington. A former seven-year Williams & Connolly associate, Brian Rabbitt, joined the White House counsel's office earlier this year. The firm, according to a Yahoo News report in June, was among several in Washington that turned down representing Trump amid the ongoing investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Greg Craig, the Obama administration's first White House counsel, reported making $1.7 million at Williams & Connolly in 2008. Two then-associates who joined Craig—Jonathan Kravis and Christian Weideman—reported earning $220,000 and $310,000, respectively, that year. This year's Am Law 100 survey identified Williams & Connolly's profits per partner at $1.59 million.
Mahoney said he would withdraw from the firm's partnership on his confirmation and, within 60 days, receive his final partnership share distribution and a refund of his capital account. “W&C will calculate the amount of these payments as of the date of my withdrawal. I will not receive a bonus,” Mahoney wrote in his ethics agreement. He estimated the value of his capital account between $50,000 and $100,000.
Mahoney is a 2006 Yale Law School graduate who clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and later for Justice Anthony Kennedy during the 2007-08 term. That term, Kennedy wrote the majority ruling in Boumediene v. Bush, which said Guantánamo Bay detainees can use federal district courts to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. A Kansas native, Mahoney was scheduled to speak in May in Kansas City, Missouri, about the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Federal campaign records show Mahoney donated to the U.S. Senate campaign of Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and a Harvard Law School graduate who previously worked at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Cooper & Kirk. The election database does not show any contributions from Mahoney for any candidate in the 2016 presidential election. Mahoney donated $100 last year to the campaign of Josh Hawley, the Republican attorney general for Missouri.
Mahoney would join the office of Robert Lighthizer, a former Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom partner who was confirmed this year as the U.S. trade representative. Another Skadden partner, Jeffrey Gerrish, is up for a deputy slot in that office. Trump in March appointed Stephen Vaughn, a King & Spalding partner, as the general counsel to the U.S. trade representative. Vaughn had joined the firm in 2016 from Skadden.
Katelyn Polantz in Washington contributed to this report.
Curtis J. Mahoney, a
The disclosure offers a rare look inside the storied Washington partnership, which is known as much for its loyalty among partners—who almost never leave or join from rival firms—as it is for its confidentiality regarding finances.
Mahoney, who goes by C.J., joined
Mahoney reported he will receive “a pro rata share of distributable net earnings as a partner calculated as of the day I withdraw from the firm.” He identified his anticipated partnership share at between $500,000 and $1 million.
The financial disclosure, required for certain political appointees, also provided a fuller glimpse of Mahoney's work at the firm. Mahoney identified clients, including 21st Century Fox,
In his disclosure, Mahoney cited a confidentiality provision in D.C. attorney-ethics rules in declining to identify five clients. He provided legal services to a technology company and to a U.S. public official who are both subject to a non-public U.S. Justice Department investigation. Mahoney further said two clients—a U.S. private equity executive and a Brazilian businessman—are involved in confidential arbitration proceedings. Mahoney declined to identify an unnamed Roman Catholic diocese that is grappling with what he described as “alleged clerical abuse of minors.”
Mahoney declined to comment Tuesday.
Greg Craig, the Obama administration's first White House counsel, reported making $1.7 million at
Mahoney said he would withdraw from the firm's partnership on his confirmation and, within 60 days, receive his final partnership share distribution and a refund of his capital account. “W&C will calculate the amount of these payments as of the date of my withdrawal. I will not receive a bonus,” Mahoney wrote in his ethics agreement. He estimated the value of his capital account between $50,000 and $100,000.
Mahoney is a 2006
Federal campaign records show Mahoney donated to the U.S. Senate campaign of Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and a
Mahoney would join the office of Robert Lighthizer, a former
Katelyn Polantz in Washington contributed to this report.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllNevada Supreme Court Rejects Uber-Backed Ballot Initiative for 20% Fee Cap
4 minute readRFK Jr. Will Keep Affiliations With Morgan & Morgan, Other Law Firms If Confirmed to DHHS
3 minute readAs Unpredictability Rises, Gov't Law Practices Expect Trump Bump. Especially in Florida
5 minute readEx-NYC Mayor de Blasio Must Pay $475K Fine for NYPD’s Presidential Campaign Security
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Uber Files RICO Suit Against Plaintiff-Side Firms Alleging Fraudulent Injury Claims
- 2The Law Firm Disrupted: Scrutinizing the Elephant More Than the Mouse
- 3Inherent Diminished Value Damages Unavailable to 3rd-Party Claimants, Court Says
- 4Pa. Defense Firm Sued by Client Over Ex-Eagles Player's $43.5M Med Mal Win
- 5Losses Mount at Morris Manning, but Departing Ex-Chair Stays Bullish About His Old Firm's Future
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250