Prominent trial lawyers, practice group leaders and the chairmen of several major U.S. law firms are among the more than 200 top volunteer fundraisers for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, according to a list the Democratic candidate and former vice president disclosed Friday night.

The list of 250 names revealed the individuals and couples who have 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."

Biden's list of top volunteer fundraisers included 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-based firm Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor; Mitchell Berger, founder and co-chairman of Florida's Berger Singerman; and Ace Werner 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 affiliate publication The American Lawyer that many of the leading Democratic presidential contenders had "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 Thomas Girardi of Girardi | Keese in Los Angeles; John Morgan of Florida's Morgan & Morgan; 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, and trial lawyer Fred Cunningham of Florida's Domnick Cunningham & Whalen.

Big Law campaign bundlers for Biden included 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; John Voorhees, a litigation shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Denver; 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.

Brad Karp Brad Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (photo by David Handschuh/NYLJ)

"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.