Trump Aide Taps 'Fastest Growing' Boutique in DNC's Russia Interference Case
For Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht—which aims to beat firms like Quinn Emanuel at their own game—client George Papadopoulos is the firm's first foray into the legal drama surrounding Russia and the election of President Donald Trump.
September 21, 2018 at 02:42 PM
4 minute read
Despite pleading guilty to lying to the FBI and earning a two-week jail sentence earlier this month, George Papadopoulos' legal troubles are far from over.
The one-time foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump is also a defendant—along with the Russian Federation and more than a dozen others—in a civil suit filed last April in Manhattan federal district court by the Democratic National Committee over alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Plaintiffs bar powerhouse Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll is representing the DNC, led by former U.S. Department of Justice senior prosecutor Geoffrey Graber and the firm's executive chairman, Joseph Sellers. There's also a who's who of prominent lawyers on the defense side, including Winston & Strawn's Abbe David Lowell for Jared Kushner and Michael Carvin of Jones Day for the Trump campaign. Herbert Smith Freehills is representing Russian billionaire and trusted Vladimir Putin associate Aras Iskenerovich Agalarov and his son Emin Agalarov.
Papadopoulos, meanwhile, has turned to a new but decidedly ambitious kid on the litigation block. He's represented by Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht, whose managing partner, John Pierce, recently vowed his firm would “replace Quinn Emanuel as the next dominant global litigation firm, no question.” Pierce, a former Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner not known for his shyness, also called the firm the “fastest-growing” new law firm in world history, “by orders of magnitude.”
Taking the lead for Papadopoulos at Pierce Bainbridge is New York-based of counsel Caroline Polisi, a former Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison associate who joined the litigation boutique earlier this year.
Working with Polisi is Eric Creizman, a former Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher attorney who joined the firm in August from his own solo white-collar practice, and Christopher Lavigne, who also joined the firm as a partner earlier this summer.
The firm was first introduced to Papadopoulos when he and his wife, Italian lawyer Simona Mangiante, reached out to Polisi regarding his criminal trial.
Papadopoulos was represented by Chicago-based Breen & Pugh in the criminal case, which culminated with his sentencing on Sept. 7. Papadopoulos was ordered to spend 14 days in prison for lying to agents investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election—making him the first former Trump official to be ordered to jail in a prosecution arising from the Robert Mueller investigation.
“Ultimately, we decided to move forward with the representation in DNC case because many—if not all—of the key questions in the criminal case will come into play in this civil context,” said Polisi, who also works as an on-air legal analyst.
According to Polisi, the firm is also now representing Papadopoulos in his ongoing criminal case, as well as advising on any congressional testimony he may give.
“I've already reached out to the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding [Papadopoulos] testifying,” she said. “He very much wants to tell his story to Congress.”
Polisi said the DNC case is unique because it involves issues of national public importance and there are just strong, visceral reactions at play.
But she said that her firm, founded just as Trump was taking office, is not approaching the case through a political lens—even if landing a role on such a high-profile case serves to grow its reputation.
“The representation speaks for itself,” Polisi said. “[Papadopoulos] could have chosen anyone to be his lawyers, and he chose us. There's a reason for that.”
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