Joe Biden Then-Vice President Joe Biden at the White House on March 16, 2016. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ ALM)

Former Vice President Joseph Biden led top Democratic presidential candidates in legal spending between July and September, shelling out almost $350,000 to Covington & Burling and a handful of other firms his campaign hired in recent months, according to a disclosure filed late Tuesday.

In the quarter ending Sept. 30, Biden's campaign paid Covington more than $250,000, after paying the firm almost $70,000 in June. Robert Lenhard, a Covington partner and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, is leading the firm's work for the former vice president. In 2008, Lenhard oversaw the transition team that reviewed the FEC for the incoming Obama administration.

The Biden campaign also brought in additional legal counsel in the third quarter, hiring the Boston-based firm Hemenway & Barnes along with Scott J. Street, a Los Angeles-based partner at Baute Crochetiere Hartley & Velkei. The campaign paid Henemway & Barnes about $27,500 and Street almost $22,500, according to its latest spending disclosure.

Before becoming a lawyer, Street was a researcher and strategist for "political campaigns and companies around the country," with a client list that included a former president and House speaker, according to his law firm's website. Although he is now a litigator, Street "also continues to advise political candidates and government officials," the site states.

Biden's campaign is also being advised by Sean Crotty, a counsel at the Washington firm Cogent Strategies who specializes in campaign finance and ethics laws. Since June, Crotty has been paid $10,000 each month by the Biden campaign.

Biden's legal spending in the third quarter was rivaled only by Pete Buttigieg's, according to a review of campaign expenditures for "legal services." Between July and August, Buttigieg's campaign paid $140,000 to Jenner & Block, where Previn Warren, a partner and former Harvard classmate of the South Bend, Indiana, mayor, has served as the campaign's general counsel. Buttigieg's campaign sent $180,000 to the law firm Perkins Coie between August and September. Warren declined to comment Wednesday on his work for the Buttigieg campaign.

Overall, Buttigieg has spent more on legal advice than any other leading Democratic candidate, doling out nearly $725,000 since February.

Elizabeth Warren Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

In the third quarter, Perkins Coie remained a top recipient of Democratic dollars. Perkins Coie received $240,000 from the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, which has not hired any other law firms, according to campaign finance disclosures. Warren's campaign had spent a similar amount on legal fees between April and June.

California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris' campaign paid Perkins Coie nearly $250,000, with much of that spending—nearly $170,000—coming in early July. Marc Elias, the head of Perkins Coie's political law practice, is reportedly serving as the campaign's general counsel. In the second quarter of 2018, the California Democrat's presidential campaign paid Perkins Coie more than $90,000.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont continued to spend modestly on legal fees, spreading $23,000 between the firms Peer, Gan & Gisler and Garvey Schubert Barer.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's campaign spent almost $2 million on legal consulting in the third quarter, with more than $500,000 going to Jones Day, a firm with close ties to the administration.

Earlier this year, Trump's first White House counsel, Donald McGahn, returned to Jones Day as the head of its government regulation practice. The firm also recruited Brett Shumate, a former top political appointee at the Justice Department who played a leading role defending Trump administration policies in court.

 

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