If you took Elizabeth Holmes asking “Why would I deceive you? There’s no reason for me to do that,” and poured all that energy into the Department of Justice, you’d end up with Henry Whitaker. As senior counselor to the Attorney General, Whitaker is the apparatchik who spent most of the last year telling federal judges that the Trump administration could be trusted because it had no reason to abuse power. When courts asked pointed questions about illegal U.S. Attorney appointments and cutesy semantic games like naming those fake U.S. Attorneys as their own “First Assistant” to sidestep the Constitution and federal law, Whitaker showed up to tell the courts to relax and trust in Trump.
Yesterday, Dechert announced Whitaker will join the firm as a partner in its Washington office.
Back in November 2025, in an effort to resuscitate the failed prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James, Whitaker told Judge Cameron McGowan Currie that Comey and James were trying to “elevate what is at best a paperwork error,” when they flagged the fact that they were being prosecuted by a random insurance lawyer with a MAGA hat. At the time, he called it “fanciful” to suggest that the DOJ sought to evade Senate confirmation by continuing to treat Lindsey Halligan as the U.S. Attorney. Currie tossed both indictments anyway.
As no dead horse goes unbeaten by this administration, Whitaker took the matter to the Fourth Circuit, opening his September argument thusly:
That decision is wrong on its merits and in no event would dismissal of the indictments be an appropriate remedy for what can be at best described as an error in the title that Ms. Halligan used when she presented before the grand juries and signed the indictments.
The “error in the title” here was Halligan saying she held all the authority of a U.S. Attorney, when she meant to say she had no authority whatsoever. Chief Judge Albert Diaz asked whether Whitaker’s reading of the law would allow a president to constantly reappoint interim appointees forever, thereby cutting both the courts and the Senate out of the process. Whitaker said the administration had “no incentive.” Judge Diaz pushed back:
No, no, no. See, that’s not responsive. You’re saying you have no incentive. But under your reading of the statute, a nefarious, ne’er-do-well executive could do exactly that, right?
Whitaker replied:
Well, in theory, Your Honor, well, in theory or not, Your Honor, yes.
Standing up for Whitaker here because that’s an honest and accurate answer. It took a direct question and came after Whitaker made the ridiculous claim that the administration would have “no incentive” to circumvent the Senate over DOJ appointments despite Trump constantly declaring that he wants to do exactly that, but given the DOJ’s track record over the past couple years, we have to give credit where it’s due.
Lawyers advocate for their clients, and Whitaker can say he only advanced the administration’s position. But lawyers make a business decision to choose who they represent and how they do it. He didn’t have to be senior counselor to the Attorney General — the scoreboard shows that he had the experience to go to Biglaw. Whitaker, a FedSoc guy with a Clarence Thomas clerkship, chose to give the administration a boost in its quest to have an illegal appointment turn in an indictment the grand jury didn’t even sign, in order to put Jim Comey in jail over taking pictures of seashells.
And that’s before digging into the DOJ’s effort to evade court orders and mislead the courts regarding Trump’s deportation efforts. Whitaker was among the select group of DOJ officials that Senate Democrats asked to interview after whistleblower and former Acting Deputy Director for the Office of Immigration Litigation Erez Reuveni reported that senior DOJ officials discussed telling courts “fuck you” and to “ignore” any court order enjoining deportations.
According to the whistleblower’s account, Whitaker was on the right side of the law — Reuveni claimed that Whitaker agreed that the court order applied to the government’s efforts nationwide (as opposed to those trying to claim it only bound the government not to illegally deport the three names in the caption), but… you know, Whitaker kept working there after this episode. That was in March of last year.
Whitaker joins Harmeet Dhillon, Jason Reding Quiñones, and John Eisenberg in fleeing the DOJ dumpster fire within days of the midterms. Civil Division chief Brett Shumate is now out too.
In Dechert’s announcement, litigation partner Michael McGinley praised Whitaker as someone who “understands how legal and policy decisions take shape within government.” Not entirely sure that’s a strength at the moment, but sure.
Steve Engel ran OLC during Trump’s first term while Whitaker worked there, then rejoined Dechert and now chairs its appellate and regulatory litigation group. Whitaker says working with Engel again was part of the draw. A nice little reunion!
For better or worse, there’s a revolving door between the government and private practice. Critics point to the corrupting effect of the people running prosecutions turning their targets into future clients. That said, there’s also a lot to be said for expertise. Sometimes the best securities lawyers are just the best securities lawyers, you know?
But however one comes down on the revolving door, isn’t there a point where — after all that’s happened over the last two years — firms have to step back and take a pass on attorneys that helped lead this DOJ? Or at least have a hard conversation about where the line gets drawn.
“Senior counselor to the Attorney General” sounds like it should fall on the wrong side of that complicity line. Maybe it’s an error in the title.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
The post Biglaw Begins Hiring Trump Collaborators As They Flee DOJ appeared first on Above the Law.
If you took Elizabeth Holmes asking “Why would I deceive you? There’s no reason for me to do that,” and poured all that energy into the Department of Justice, you’d end up with Henry Whitaker. As senior counselor to the Attorney General, Whitaker is the apparatchik who spent most of the last year telling federal judges that the Trump administration could be trusted because it had no reason to abuse power. When courts asked pointed questions about illegal U.S. Attorney appointments and cutesy semantic games like naming those fake U.S. Attorneys as their own “First Assistant” to sidestep the Constitution and federal law, Whitaker showed up to tell the courts to relax and trust in Trump.
Yesterday, Dechert announced Whitaker will join the firm as a partner in its Washington office.
Back in November 2025, in an effort to resuscitate the failed prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James, Whitaker told Judge Cameron McGowan Currie that Comey and James were trying to “elevate what is at best a paperwork error,” when they flagged the fact that they were being prosecuted by a random insurance lawyer with a MAGA hat. At the time, he called it “fanciful” to suggest that the DOJ sought to evade Senate confirmation by continuing to treat Lindsey Halligan as the U.S. Attorney. Currie tossed both indictments anyway.
As no dead horse goes unbeaten by this administration, Whitaker took the matter to the Fourth Circuit, opening his September argument thusly:
That decision is wrong on its merits and in no event would dismissal of the indictments be an appropriate remedy for what can be at best described as an error in the title that Ms. Halligan used when she presented before the grand juries and signed the indictments.
The “error in the title” here was Halligan saying she held all the authority of a U.S. Attorney, when she meant to say she had no authority whatsoever. Chief Judge Albert Diaz asked whether Whitaker’s reading of the law would allow a president to constantly reappoint interim appointees forever, thereby cutting both the courts and the Senate out of the process. Whitaker said the administration had “no incentive.” Judge Diaz pushed back:
No, no, no. See, that’s not responsive. You’re saying you have no incentive. But under your reading of the statute, a nefarious, ne’er-do-well executive could do exactly that, right?
Whitaker replied:
Well, in theory, Your Honor, well, in theory or not, Your Honor, yes.
Standing up for Whitaker here because that’s an honest and accurate answer. It took a direct question and came after Whitaker made the ridiculous claim that the administration would have “no incentive” to circumvent the Senate over DOJ appointments despite Trump constantly declaring that he wants to do exactly that, but given the DOJ’s track record over the past couple years, we have to give credit where it’s due.
Lawyers advocate for their clients, and Whitaker can say he only advanced the administration’s position. But lawyers make a business decision to choose who they represent and how they do it. He didn’t have to be senior counselor to the Attorney General — the scoreboard shows that he had the experience to go to Biglaw. Whitaker, a FedSoc guy with a Clarence Thomas clerkship, chose to give the administration a boost in its quest to have an illegal appointment turn in an indictment the grand jury didn’t even sign, in order to put Jim Comey in jail over taking pictures of seashells.
And that’s before digging into the DOJ’s effort to evade court orders and mislead the courts regarding Trump’s deportation efforts. Whitaker was among the select group of DOJ officials that Senate Democrats asked to interview after whistleblower and former Acting Deputy Director for the Office of Immigration Litigation Erez Reuveni reported that senior DOJ officials discussed telling courts “fuck you” and to “ignore” any court order enjoining deportations.
According to the whistleblower’s account, Whitaker was on the right side of the law — Reuveni claimed that Whitaker agreed that the court order applied to the government’s efforts nationwide (as opposed to those trying to claim it only bound the government not to illegally deport the three names in the caption), but… you know, Whitaker kept working there after this episode. That was in March of last year.
Whitaker joins Harmeet Dhillon, Jason Reding Quiñones, and John Eisenberg in fleeing the DOJ dumpster fire within days of the midterms. Civil Division chief Brett Shumate is now out too.
In Dechert’s announcement, litigation partner Michael McGinley praised Whitaker as someone who “understands how legal and policy decisions take shape within government.” Not entirely sure that’s a strength at the moment, but sure.
Steve Engel ran OLC during Trump’s first term while Whitaker worked there, then rejoined Dechert and now chairs its appellate and regulatory litigation group. Whitaker says working with Engel again was part of the draw. A nice little reunion!
For better or worse, there’s a revolving door between the government and private practice. Critics point to the corrupting effect of the people running prosecutions turning their targets into future clients. That said, there’s also a lot to be said for expertise. Sometimes the best securities lawyers are just the best securities lawyers, you know?
But however one comes down on the revolving door, isn’t there a point where — after all that’s happened over the last two years — firms have to step back and take a pass on attorneys that helped lead this DOJ? Or at least have a hard conversation about where the line gets drawn.
“Senior counselor to the Attorney General” sounds like it should fall on the wrong side of that complicity line. Maybe it’s an error in the title.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
