Kamala Harris, left, speaking with Kirkland & Ellis partner Jonathan Henes, center, and his son Sam, right, during an event for Harris's campaign held at Kirkland's offices in New York City on May 3. Credit: Beatrice Moritz Photography.

Jonathan Henes, a 50-year-old Kirkland & Ellis restructuring partner, knew he wanted President Donald Trump out of the White House, but he didn't know in January which Democrat to support. His son Sam nudged him along.

"Sam came into my room," Henes recalls, "and said, 'I wrote an article about how my first vote ever would be for Kamala Harris.'"

Soon after, Henes contacted Harris' campaign, telling staff that both he and his son wanted to get involved. It wasn't long before Henes had maxed out his individual contribution to Harris and hosted several fundraisers for the California senator.

Henes wasn't immersed in past election campaigns, but he picked a side in the 2020 race and dove right in, becoming a small part of the flood of fundraising by lawyers for the upcoming election.

As presidential candidates court middle-class voters across the country, they are also regularly stepping into Wall Street law firms and corporate defense firms for donations. Multiple candidates have received more than $1 million from lawyers and law firms through the second quarter of 2019, including Joe Biden, Harris and Cory Booker, according to Brendan Quinn, outreach manager for the Center for Responsive Politics. Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand (who dropped out of the race this week) were approaching the $1 million mark.

The legal industry has traditionally been a "huge source" of fundraising for Democrats, Quinn says. But the industry's fundraising for the upcoming election and the extent of its support for Democrats may be unique this time around.

With 14 months to go before the general election, lawyers and law firm personnel have given about $24.2 million to federal candidates, including presidential and congressional races through the second quarter, according to preliminary data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Quinn says that's a remarkable figure.

And of the $10 million the legal industry has contributed to presidential candidates, almost all has gone to Democrats, the center says.

Senator Cory Booker speaks during a Presidential Candidate Forum in Detroit on July 24. Credit: Anthony Lanzilote/Bloomber

Quinn says a few factors are driving those dynamics, including that the Democratic presidential primary has a wide spread of two dozen candidates. There's also an uptick in overall contributions across industries, as well as those from women, likely carrying over to women lawyers.

"This is probably going to be the most expensive election cycle in American history," Quinn says.

Even as the legal sector's corporate clients have benefited from Trump's regulatory rollback and tax overhaul, some of his actions have hit a nerve within the legal industry, including his criticism of federal judges and obstruction-of-justice allegations.

"We're seeing an unprecedented level of engagement by the private bar this presidential election cycle, just as we're seeing an unprecedented level of pro bono activity by the private bar to safeguard the rule of law, which is under continual attack," Brad Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and a prolific fundraiser, says. "I believe the two phenomena are directly related."

On reading his son's article in late January, Henes agreed with Sam that Harris should challenge Trump and "bring dignity back" to the Oval Office.

Sam, 17, who will be a high school senior this fall, asked his father whether he could volunteer for the Harris campaign over the summer. Through his contacts, Henes reached Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, a DLA Piper partner, about getting involved. In early April, when Henes and his wife couldn't attend a fundraiser, Sam went in their place.

After the event, "Sam calls me and said, 'Dad, I had the best night of my life,'" Henes says. Sam was invited to the front of the crowd to ask Harris a question. With Trump packing the courts, he asked Harris, what would she do if her progressive legislation was challenged in the courts after she got to the White House?

Sam was so starstruck that he didn't hear Harris' response.

"When he told me this story," Henes says, "there was something that really resonated."

He was struck by his son's passion and courage for walking into a fundraiser and talking to a senator "as a 17-year-old kid," and touched by the genuine kindness that Harris displayed to Sam. That event solidified Henes' support. He told her campaign he was all in.

Henes is now on Harris' national finance committee and has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for her campaign. He has encouraged his partners and friends to donate: Kirkland partners and staff have given Harris more than $80,000 in individual donations through the second quarter, more than other candidates have received from Kirkland personnel, according to campaign finance records. Both Harris and her senior campaign staff have also come into Kirkland's offices, Henes says.

Several other law firms have played host to top presidential candidates. Milbank says it has hosted candidates as part of an informational "town hall series." Klobuchar and Booker have spoken at Debevoise & Plimpton's offices. Joe Biden spoke at plaintiffs firm Weitz & Luxenberg and Paul Weiss on the same day, according to press reports.

Karp, at Paul Weiss, has hosted several fundraisers for Harris, including a couple Henes attended. Karp declines to say whether he has any official role for a candidate or is on a campaign committee.

"Virtually all the major Democratic candidates have visited our firm's offices, some on several occasions, to meet with our partners and associates," Karp says, adding that Paul Weiss is "actively engaged in the political process, perhaps more this cycle than any previous cycle."

Law firms have also contributed to presidential and congressional candidates through their political action committees. The top law firm PACs by donations through the second quarter include Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld ($143,024); K&L Gates ($109,500); Polsinelli ($66,420); Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck ($62,500); and Alston & Bird ($56,500), according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

While law firm partners and candidates can both benefit from cozy relations, support can also lead to political fallout. Harris faced scrutiny in July when her husband headlined a Chicago fundraiser hosted by six Kirkland partners—on the same day she criticized Kirkland's work in 2007 to negotiate a sweetheart plea deal for then-client Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of child sex trafficking.

Henes was one of the six partners who hosted the fundraiser and says the partners had no direct ties to Epstein's case.

"I support Kamala Harris because I believe she'll be the best president for the country and because I'm supporting my son," he says.

Henes also makes clear that his support for Harris is not on behalf of his firm. "Kirkland," he says, "is apolitical. It's not Democrat, it's not Republican. … It's a firm. Within that firm, we have partners all over the political spectrum," including those giving to Trump.

But he points to a "core group" of about 10 Kirkland partners in New York, including himself, who are focused on Democratic politics. In March, the group had lunch together to discuss what to do "to make sure Trump can't win." They agreed to get to know all the major candidates, ensuring that whoever wins the Democratic nomination will have the support of partners at the firm, Henes says.

Even now, he doesn't see support in Kirkland's New York office thrown behind any one candidate. Besides Harris, Klobuchar, Gillibrand and Booker have also visited the firm.

"Kirkland happens to have a great conference center," he points out.

Meanwhile, Sam has already attended or volunteered at several campaign events. Father and son say it's been nice to share the campaign experience together.

"My dad got involved so that I could get involved," but now he's all in, Sam says.

At the end of one fundraising event they attended together, Harris' communications director told the senator that "Sam's dad" set up a meet and greet at Kirkland's office with campaign staff. On hearing this remark, Sam told his dad, "How do you like that? You're 'Sam's dad' now."

"I couldn't have been prouder," Henes says.

"It's been an amazing experience," he adds. "I've never truly been involved in a political campaign before and now I'm completely engaged in it."

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