Latest news with #SimonaAgnolucci
Washington Post
13-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
7 partners leave Willkie Farr, firm that made Trump deal, for Cooley, which fought him
Seven partners at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher are leaving that business after it reached an agreement with the Trump administration and moving to Cooley, which successfully challenged the president's actions in court. The lawyers leaving Willkie Farr include Simona Agnolucci and Benedict Hur, whom the firm had called 'highly regarded rising stars' when they came on board in 2019 to help launch its San Francisco office. The moves, which were announced Friday by Cooley, add to an ongoing exodus from law firms that struck deals with President Donald Trump's administration to avoid potentially punishing sanctions. Trump issued several executive orders targeting firms that employed his perceived enemies or took up cases he disliked, directing that they be stripped of government contracts and their employees blocked from federal buildings and jobs. Firms have said these punishments threatened their ability to stay in business. Four targeted firms sued to challenge Trump's actions in court. Judges have struck down his penalties for three of them so far, including the firm Jenner & Block, which was represented by Cooley in its lawsuit. Nine other firms made deals with his administration to avoid or undo similar punishments, pledging nearly $1 billion in combined pro bono legal services for causes including aiding veterans. These agreements have outraged lawyers at those firms and across the legal profession. Some clients have moved work from the firms making deals to the ones fighting in court. And firms that made agreements have seen numerous employees leave, including relatively newer associates and high-profile partners. Paul Weiss, the first firm to make a deal with Trump, has lost several prominent attorneys in recent weeks, including four partners who left to form their own practice and others who soon followed them there. Last week, Damian Williams, the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, left Paul Weiss to join Jenner & Block, the highest-profile departure so far. His move was particularly striking because he was moving from a firm that made a deal with Trump to one of the places fighting his sanctions. The moves Friday involve multiple partners following a similar path. When Jenner & Block challenged Trump's executive order, Cooley took on the lawsuit at a time when many large firms were making deals with the administration or shying away from publicly commenting on his actions. Hundreds of law firms signed on to court briefs backing their peers challenging Trump's actions, but the country's largest and wealthiest firms were notably absent from those filings. Firms fighting Trump in court have been successful so far. Last month, a judge struck down his order aimed at Jenner & Block, calling his actions 'an unconstitutional act of retaliation' against the firm. Judges similarly struck down orders aimed at the firms WilmerHale and Perkins Coie. The Justice Department has not said whether it plans to appeal any or all of these rulings. A lawsuit filed by the firm Susman Godfrey is still pending, though a judge has temporarily blocked most of Trump's punishments for it. Willkie Farr struck its deal with Trump days after Jenner & Block filed its lawsuit. The firm's most high-profile employee — Doug Emhoff, husband of former vice president Kamala Harris — has criticized his firm's decision, saying he 'wanted them to fight a patently unconstitutional potential executive order.' The firm's deal left people inside Willkie Farr feeling stunned, according to Andrew Silberstein, who was an associate there and resigned after it was announced. Cooley said Friday that the seven attorneys moving there from Willkie Farr were going to be partners in its global litigation department in San Francisco. Hur said in a statement that the group was 'thrilled to join such a talented group of litigators.' 'We are thrilled to welcome this esteemed group of Bay Area leaders and litigators to the firm,' Rachel Proffitt, Cooley partner and chief executive, said in a statement. Willkie Farr had announced in 2019 that Hur and Agnolucci were joining the firm that year as partners in San Francisco, describing them as experienced litigators who would help the firm's clients. Neither responded to requests for comment Friday. The seven lawyers leaving Willkie Farr for Cooley were largely San Francisco-based. 'We wish them well,' a Willkie Farr spokesperson said in a statement.
Reuters
13-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Seven partners depart law firm Willkie Farr to join Cooley after Trump deal
June 13 (Reuters) - A group of seven partners is leaving Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which struck a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump in April to avert an executive order targeting its business, to join Cooley, which is representing one of the law firms fighting Trump's orders. Cooley on Friday said Simona Agnolucci, Benedict Hur, Joshua Anderson, Tiffany Lin, Jonathan Patchen, Michael Rome and Eduardo Santacana are joining the firm as litigation partners in San Francisco. The lawyers leaving New York-founded Willkie, which has more than 1,200 lawyers, are among the latest to depart from major U.S. firms that have made deals with Trump. Agnolucci and Hur, who were both leaders of Willkie's San Francisco office, and the other departing partners did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. Agnolucci was also a member of the firm's executive committee. The New York Times, which first reported the departures earlier on Friday, cited an unnamed source who said Agnolucci and Hur had told others they were disappointed that Willkie had capitulated to Trump. Reuters could not independently confirm the report. A Willkie spokesperson said "we wish them well" and had no further comment. Some of the former Willkie lawyers have represented major tech clients on court matters. Agnolucci, Hur and Patchen were on Google's defense team in litigation led by the state of Texas that led to a $1.8 billion settlement. Palo Alto-founded Cooley is representing Jenner & Block in its legal challenge to a Trump executive order that restricted Jenner's access to government officials and threatened its federal contracting work. A federal judge in May overturned Trump's order, calling it an unconstitutional act of retaliation for Jenner's past cases and its employment of a prosecutor who investigated ties between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. Cooley CEO Rachel Proffitt in a statement said the firm is "thrilled to welcome this esteemed group of Bay Area leaders and litigators." Willkie Farr in its deal with Trump had agreed to provide free legal services worth $100 million to mutually agreed-upon projects with the administration and had pledged not to engage in illegal diversity-related employment practices. Eight other large firms have reached similar agreements with the White House. Willkie's leadership had said in an internal email seen by Reuters in April that the deal prevented Trump from signing an executive order that could have imperiled the firm and its clients, though it had acknowledged dissent about the decision. The first firm to settle with Trump, Paul Weiss, has seen at least eight partners leave since its agreement in March. Since the end of May, seven partners have left the firm to join a new firm, Dunn Isaacson Rhee, co-founded by former Paul Weiss partner Karen Dunn. The new firm has taken over from Paul Weiss in at least one case – an antitrust lawsuit in Nevada in which some of the former Paul Weiss lawyers are representing the Ultimate Fighting Championship, according to court documents filed this week. A Paul Weiss spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Dunn Isaacson firm is now also representing Google and Qualcomm in antitrust litigation, though Paul Weiss remains involved in those cases.
