{"id":167030,"date":"2026-11-09T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T22:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/11\/09\/legendary-litigator-who-took-on-trump-passes-away-while-prepping-for-trial\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T14:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T22:02:09","slug":"legendary-litigator-who-took-on-trump-passes-away-while-prepping-for-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/11\/09\/legendary-litigator-who-took-on-trump-passes-away-while-prepping-for-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary Litigator Who Took On Trump Passes Away While Prepping For Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have some tragic news to report out of the Washington, D.C., legal community, where celebrated litigator Dane Butswinkas<\/a>, a partner and longtime member of Williams & Connolly, suddenly passed away. According to his family, he died of a pulmonary embolism while preparing for trial in Arizona. <\/p>\n

Butswinkas, 65, spent 37 years at Williams & Connolly, including a stint as the firm\u2019s chair. He built a career taking on high-profile civil and criminal cases, but one of his most consequential came last year, when he was hired to lead Perkins Coie\u2019s fight against President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order targeting the firm. Perkins Coie, now known as Ashurst Perkins Coie, chose to challenge the order in court while other firms capitulated to similar pressure. A federal judge struck it down as unconstitutional, and the government has appealed.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/a> has more on how Butswinkas approached the case:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cDane viewed this case as something he had an obligation to do without fear, without hesitation,\u201d [Williams & Connolly senior counsel Steve] Raber said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people, when the chips are down, start looking for excuses or start looking for the exit,\u201d he added. \u201cThat was not Dane.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In an in memoriam announcement<\/a>, Joe Petrosinelli,<\/strong> the firm\u2019s chairman, remembered Butswinkas as an \u201cextraordinary trial lawyer\u201d who \u201cworked tirelessly\u201d for his clients and was a \u201cdevoted mentor and friend\u201d to his colleagues. \u201cHe was a world class lawyer, partner and friend,\u201d Petrosinelli said, \u201cand left a legacy that will endure.\u201d<\/p>\n

We here at Above the Law extend our deepest condolences to Dane Butswinkas\u2019s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.<\/p>\n

Prominent D.C. litigator dies at 65 while preparing for trial in Arizona<\/a> [Washington Post]<\/p>\n

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Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>, X\/Twitter<\/a>, and Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Legendary Litigator Who Took On Trump Passes Away While Prepping For Trial<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image via Getty)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We have some tragic news to report out of the Washington, D.C., legal community, where celebrated litigator Dane Butswinkas<\/a>, a partner and longtime member of Williams & Connolly, suddenly passed away. According to his family, he died of a pulmonary embolism while preparing for trial in Arizona. <\/p>\n

Butswinkas, 65, spent 37 years at Williams & Connolly, including a stint as the firm\u2019s chair. He built a career taking on high-profile civil and criminal cases, but one of his most consequential came last year, when he was hired to lead Perkins Coie\u2019s fight against President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order targeting the firm. Perkins Coie, now known as Ashurst Perkins Coie, chose to challenge the order in court while other firms capitulated to similar pressure. A federal judge struck it down as unconstitutional, and the government has appealed.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/a> has more on how Butswinkas approached the case:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cDane viewed this case as something he had an obligation to do without fear, without hesitation,\u201d [Williams & Connolly senior counsel Steve] Raber said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people, when the chips are down, start looking for excuses or start looking for the exit,\u201d he added. \u201cThat was not Dane.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In an in memoriam announcement<\/a>, Joe Petrosinelli,<\/strong> the firm\u2019s chairman, remembered Butswinkas as an \u201cextraordinary trial lawyer\u201d who \u201cworked tirelessly\u201d for his clients and was a \u201cdevoted mentor and friend\u201d to his colleagues. \u201cHe was a world class lawyer, partner and friend,\u201d Petrosinelli said, \u201cand left a legacy that will endure.\u201d<\/p>\n

We here at Above the Law extend our deepest condolences to Dane Butswinkas\u2019s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.<\/p>\n

Prominent D.C. litigator dies at 65 while preparing for trial in Arizona<\/a> [Washington Post]<\/p>\n

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

Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>, X\/Twitter<\/a>, and Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have some tragic news to report out of the Washington, D.C., legal community, where celebrated litigator Dane Butswinkas, a partner and longtime member of Williams & Connolly, suddenly passed away. According to his family, he died of a pulmonary embolism while preparing for trial in Arizona. Butswinkas, 65, spent 37 years at Williams & […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":166988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167030","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=167030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}