{"id":108351,"date":"2025-02-13T16:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T00:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/13\/jones-day-partner-and-other-biglaw-alums-join-elon-musks-doge\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T16:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T00:46:09","slug":"jones-day-partner-and-other-biglaw-alums-join-elon-musks-doge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/13\/jones-day-partner-and-other-biglaw-alums-join-elon-musks-doge\/","title":{"rendered":"Jones Day Partner And Other Biglaw Alums Join Elon Musk\u2019s DOGE"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The questionable\u00a0Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) got a ton of flack in the early days (okay, it was like a week and a half ago, but time is not timing right now) for putting<\/a> some sketchy kids in charge<\/a>. But reporting<\/a> from Pro Publica reveals it\u2019s not just edgelords at DOGE, the pseudo-agency has also onboarded some attorneys with a Biglaw pedigree.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unsurprising<\/a> to learn that a former Jones Day partner is among those brought into the DOGE fold. Pro Publica reports James Burnham is now general counsel at DOGE. Burnham worked in the White House Counsel\u2019s office in the Trump I administration, brought there by another former Jones Day partner, Don McGahn<\/a>. The University of Chicago Law alum also has some prestigious clerkships on his resume \u2014 clerking for\u00a0Justice Neil Gorsuch and disgraced former Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski<\/a>. Most recently<\/a>, he launch a litigation finance fund and a boutique law firm.<\/p>\n

Keenan Kmiec is another attorney tapped by DOGE. He has clerkships on his resume (for\u00a0then-Judge Samuel Alito on the federal circuit court before going on to his own SCOTUS clerkship with John Roberts), as well as a stint in Biglaw (reportedly at Sidley<\/a>), before making a tech bro turn.<\/p>\n

\n

In 2021, Kmiec began working for a Swiss foundation that promotes a blockchain called Tezos, according to his LinkedIn. He then served for nine months as CEO of a\u00a0now-defunct startup<\/a>\u00a0called InterPop, which described itself as \u201cforging the future of digital fandom with comic, game, and collectible NFTs minted responsibly on the Tezos blockchain.\u201d A former staffer at InterPop described the company in an interview as a refinement of the Magic: The Gathering card game. But the former staffer added, \u201cWe ran out of money and the game failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

DOGE\u2019s penchant<\/a> for employees unburdened by a ton of real world experience also continues in their attorney hires. Jacob Altik graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2021. He clerked for the far-right<\/a> D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neomi Rao, spent a year and change at Weil Gotshal, and is *supposed* to start his Supreme Court clerkship with Neil Gorsuch this summer. Perhaps he\u2019ll tire of cutting essential government funding by then.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Jones Day Partner And Other Biglaw Alums Join Elon Musk\u2019s DOGE<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The questionable\u00a0Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) got a ton of flack in the early days (okay, it was like a week and a half ago, but time is not timing right now) for putting<\/a> some sketchy kids in charge<\/a>. But reporting<\/a> from Pro Publica reveals it\u2019s not just edgelords at DOGE, the pseudo-agency has also onboarded some attorneys with a Biglaw pedigree.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unsurprising<\/a> to learn that a former Jones Day partner is among those brought into the DOGE fold. Pro Publica reports James Burnham is now general counsel at DOGE. Burnham worked in the White House Counsel\u2019s office in the Trump I administration, brought there by another former Jones Day partner, Don McGahn<\/a>. The University of Chicago Law alum also has some prestigious clerkships on his resume \u2014 clerking for\u00a0Justice Neil Gorsuch and disgraced former Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski<\/a>. Most recently<\/a>, he launch a litigation finance fund and a boutique law firm.<\/p>\n

Keenan Kmiec is another attorney tapped by DOGE. He has clerkships on his resume (for\u00a0then-Judge Samuel Alito on the federal circuit court before going on to his own SCOTUS clerkship with John Roberts), as well as a stint in Biglaw (reportedly at Sidley<\/a>), before making a tech bro turn.<\/p>\n

\n

In 2021, Kmiec began working for a Swiss foundation that promotes a blockchain called Tezos, according to his LinkedIn. He then served for nine months as CEO of a\u00a0now-defunct startup<\/a>\u00a0called InterPop, which described itself as \u201cforging the future of digital fandom with comic, game, and collectible NFTs minted responsibly on the Tezos blockchain.\u201d A former staffer at InterPop described the company in an interview as a refinement of the Magic: The Gathering card game. But the former staffer added, \u201cWe ran out of money and the game failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

DOGE\u2019s penchant<\/a> for employees unburdened by a ton of real world experience also continues in their attorney hires. Jacob Altik graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2021. He clerked for the far-right<\/a> D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neomi Rao, spent a year and change at Weil Gotshal, and is *supposed* to start his Supreme Court clerkship with Neil Gorsuch this summer. Perhaps he\u2019ll tire of cutting essential government funding by then.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The questionable\u00a0Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) got a ton of flack in the early days (okay, it was like a week and a half ago, but time is not timing right now) for putting some sketchy kids in charge. But reporting from Pro Publica reveals it\u2019s not just edgelords at DOGE, the pseudo-agency has also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-z48n2t.jpeg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}