Where Have All the Jones Day Trump Lawyers Gone?
Don McGahn has left the White House, but Jones Day refugees still populate many positions in President Donald Trump's government.
March 04, 2019 at 05:56 PM
4 minute read
Top row(L-R): Eric Dreiband, Dana Baiocco, Stephen Vaden, Michael Murray, and David Morrell. .Bottom row (L-R): James Burnham, Chad Readler, Noel Francisco, Gregory Katsas and Don McGahn. Photos: ALM/Bloomberg/Handout.
Jones Day's connection to President Donald Trump's administration remains strong, even with Donald McGahn returning to Jones Day after his nearly two-year stint as White House Counsel.
At least a dozen former Jones Day lawyers who received government jobs during the Trump administration are still working in the federal government, according to a search of White House records, public databases and LinkedIn.
Jones Day, which represented Trump's presidential campaign, sent 12 lawyers into the administration in its earliest days in January 2016. At least five more Jones Day lawyers have since taken various federal government roles. All except five of the 17 Jones Day alumni remain in government positions, according to ALM's count.
Two of the firm's former lawyers are still working in the White House. That group includes William McGinley, a former Jones Day partner who is now assistant to the president and cabinet secretary, and David Morrell, previously a Jones Day associate who now serves as associate counsel to the president.
Five former Jones Day lawyers are in positions at the Justice Department. Those include: Noel Francisco, solicitor general; John Gore, principal deputy assistant attorney general; James Burnham, deputy assistant attorney general, civil division; Michael Murray, deputy assistant attorney general, antitrust division; and Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general of the civil rights division.
Gregory Katsas, a former Jones Day partner, is now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Former Jones Day partner Chad Readler, who has served as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the civil division, has been nominated as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Two former Jones Day lawyers are serving as aides to Trump cabinet members. Stephen Vaden is special assistant to the secretary of agriculture, and James Uthmeier is special adviser to the secretary of commerce.
Dana Baiocco, a former Jones Day partner, was confirmed as a member of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in May.
Moving On
McGahn gave word Sunday that he was rejoining Jones Day and will lead the firm's government relations practice while also serving as an outside adviser to Senate Republicans on judicial nominations.
The other former Jones Day lawyers who have already left the government include Annie Donaldson, Kaytlin Roholt, Kevin McIntyre and Blake Delaplane.
Donaldson, who had served as special counsel to the president and chief of staff to the White House counsel, has joined the law firm of Luther Strange & Associates. That firm's name partner filled the U.S. Senate vacancy in Alabama left by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Roholt had served briefly as special counsel to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. She has since returned to Jones Day.
Blake Delaplane, who had served as an aide in the White House counsel's office, joined private equity giant The Carlyle Group in May, according to his bio on LinkedIn.
Kevin McIntyre, the former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and a past Jones Day partner, died in January of brain cancer.
A Jones Day spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on the firm's alumni in the federal government.
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