South Floridians Among Big Biden Fundraising Bundlers
A national list of 250 reveals the names of people who raised at least $25,000 for Joe Biden's presidential run.
December 30, 2019 at 07:02 AM
6 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
Berger Singerman founder and co-chair Mitchell Berger is among 250 top volunteer fundraisers for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, according to a list the Democratic candidate and former vice president disclosed.
The list of 250 names revealed the individuals and couples who raised at least $25,000 for Biden's presidential run. The Biden campaign has relied on large-dollar donations and big fundraising events, according to a Politico report that called bundlers "critical to his success."
Other South Floridians on the list released late Friday are: Adler Group developer Michael Adler of Coral Gables, Domnick Cunningham & Whalen's Fred Cunningham of North Palm Beach and Sean Domnick of Palm Beach Gardens, the Haggard Law Firm's Todd Michaels of North Miami, the Weinstein Law Firm's Andrew Weinstein of Parkland and Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter.
Other prominent attorneys raising money for Biden are: Stephen Cozen, founder and chairman of Cozen O'Connor; Bradley Butwin, chairman of O'Melveny & Myers; Brad Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Robert Brady, chairman of the Wilmington, Delaware-based firm Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor; and Peter Shields, managing partner of Wiley Rein.
Cozen said Saturday he's known Biden for more than 40 years and described his friend as the best candidate "who can cure the cancer that has infected us." Cozen, based in Philadelphia at his firm's main office, touted what he called Biden's "virtues of honesty, trustworthiness, pragmatism, likability and political smarts." He added: "Joe can fix this country and I'd like to help him do it."
In August, Karp told The American Lawyer that many of the leading Democratic presidential contenders "visited our firm's offices, some on several occasions, to meet with our partners and associates." Paul Weiss, Karp said, is "actively engaged in the political process, perhaps more this cycle than any previous cycle." Biden spoke at O'Melveny's office in New York earlier this month.
Campaigns are not required to disclose the names of bundlers who are not otherwise registered lobbyists. But their influence can become a point of tension among candidates, and disclosing names of well-connected fundraisers is one measure of transparency.
Earlier this month, Biden rival Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, released a list showing his top 113 campaign fundraisers. Candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who have eschewed big-dollar fundraisers, are leading the pack for overall campaign contributions raised.
Plaintiffs lawyers from firms across the country were also top fundraisers for Biden, according to the newly released list.
Names appearing as campaign bundlers included John Morgan of Florida's Morgan & Morgan; Thomas Girardi of Girardi | Keese in Los Angeles; Russell Budd of Baron & Budd in Dallas; Mikal Watts of Watts Guerra in San Antonio; and Arthur Luxenberg and Perry Weitz of New York's Weitz & Luxenberg. Doug Bunch, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, was also named as a top fundraiser, in addition to Wilmington, Delaware, personal injury lawyer Beverly Bove.
Big Law campaign bundlers for Biden included John Voorhees, a litigation shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Denver; Michael Trager of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, co-chairman of the firm's securities enforcement and litigation practice group; Sidley Austin international trade senior partner Richard Weiner in Washington and senior counsel Tony Gardner in London; Perkins Coie partner James Coughlan; David Frederick of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick; and Bart Friedman, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel.
Biden spoke at Sidley in November at a fundraising event co-hosted by Weiner and Gardner, a former Obama-era U.S. ambassador to the European Union. Weiner serves on the national finance committee and the executive committee of Lawyers for Biden, which is chaired by Dallas trial lawyer Marc Stanley. Stanley was also named as one of Biden's top fundraisers. In May, Stanley co-hosted a Biden fundraiser in Texas at the home of Budd, who introduced Biden.
Major U.S. law firms, including O'Melveny, Paul Weiss, Sidley and Arnold & Porter, have been involved in cases against the Trump administration over the last several years, representing plaintiffs, often pro bono, and in other cases appearing as co-counsel with U.S. House lawyers.
"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," Karp of Paul Weiss told The American Lawyer earlier this year. "I believe the two phenomena are directly related."
Biden's bundler list included executives in tech, finance, real estate and other professions. Top fundraisers included Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, and Amazon general counsel David Zapolsky. Smith and Zapolsky reportedly were among the co-hosts of private fundraisers in June in Washington state. Smith has been a leading business community critic of the Trump administration's move to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program.
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