Meet Richard Lawson, the sole Justice Department lawyer taking on Big Law in court

• One attorney has been defending President Donald Trump's war against Big Law in court.

• That's Richard Lawson, a Florida native who joined the Department of Justice earlier this year.

• Lawson's arguments for Trump's executive orders against law firms have so far been unsuccessful.

In President Donald Trump's war against Big Law, a veteran attorney is his chief frontline fighter.

The four major law firms that have decided to hit back at Trump's executive orders with lawsuits have assembled a murderer's row of skilled litigators, all trying to get judges to permanently block the orders that target the firms.

On the other side of the aisle, representing the Trump administration in the courtroom, is just one guy: Richard Lawson.

Lawson joined the Department of Justice earlier this year as a deputy associate attorney general. In recent weeks, he has been alone in court defending Trump's executive orders against the firms Susman Godfrey, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale.

"You're a bit outmanned here," a federal judge remarked after Lawson showed up solo earlier this month to a hearing for Susman Godfrey's lawsuit against the Trump administration.

By the end of the hearing, the judge ruled against Lawson, finding the executive order "antithetical to our constitutional republic."

Lawson — a 52-year-old Florida native who has spent time in the public and private sectors of law — has long had ties to Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom Trump appointed to lead the DOJ.

After leaving government service, he worked in the consumer protection practice of the firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, which is now among the hundreds to sign onto legal briefs opposing Trump's executive orders against Big Law.

Trump has gone after 13 firms so far. Nine, including Paul Weiss, struck deals with the president, collectively promising nearly $1 billion in pro bono work.

Susman Godfrey, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale chose to sue the government, arguing Trump's orders are unconstitutional.

In the executive orders, Trump says he's targeted each firm because of their ties to his perceived political enemies and because he believes they discriminate based on race, among other reasons. It's Lawson's job to go into courtrooms and argue that it's perfectly legal to do that.

So far, he has been unsuccessful. The four judges overseeing the lawsuits have issued temporary restraining orders blocking Trump's constraints on the firms, which include stripping employees of security clearances and limiting their access to federal buildings.

The judges are weighing whether to grant more permanent wins to each firm.

Life before the DOJ

In 2011, Bondi, then Florida's attorney general, tapped Lawson to serve as the director of the Consumer Protection Division for her office.

Leading the team through 2016, Lawson spearheaded inquiries into fraudulent or deceptive business practices and oversaw the agency's enforcement efforts on privacy and data security.

He then went into private practice, becoming a partner in the New York office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

Lawson's old firm is now on the other side of the courtroom, putting its name on briefs that call Trump's orders "a grave threat to our system of constitutional governance and to the rule of law itself."

Lawson spent a few years working for the firm's consumer protection practice before he linked back up with Bondi in 2021 at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank founded that year to promote Trump's agenda.

There, Bondi and Lawson were part of a litigation team that the organization's CEO at the time described as a group "on the frontlines to combat the Left's lawfare against Americans' free speech and election integrity."

America First's chief spokesperson, Jenn Pellegrino, called Lawson a "brilliant litigator and dedicated public servant."

"He led litigation that advanced the America First Agenda at AFPI under the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi and prior represented the state of Florida when AG Bondi was Attorney General of Florida," Pellegrino said in an email to BI.

In the lead-up to the 2024 election, Lawson, while at America First, defended a Republican member of the Fulton County election board in Georgia who sued over access to election materials.

Lawson was also part of the legal team representing Trump in his 2021 censorship lawsuits against Google, Twitter (now X), and Facebook (now Meta).

Lawson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A DOJ spokesperson told BI in an email that Lawson "is a tested attorney with decades of experience across the private and public sectors, including serving in various leadership positions in New York and Florida."

"The Department has full faith that he will vigorously and successfully defend the President's agenda in court," the spokesperson said.

Lawson v. Big Law

The law firms targeted by Trump have argued that his executive orders violate their First Amendment rights, their right to represent their clients unencumbered by government interference, and their clients' rights to choose their lawyers without the government stacking the deck against them.

In court, Lawson has struggled to persuade judges that Trump has wide discretion to target the firms in the name of national security.

At times, he has been unable to explain to judges what Trump meant with the language in his executive orders.

Trump's order against Susman Godfrey, for example, said the firm supported groups that "undermine the effectiveness of the United States military" through radical ideology.

When US District Judge Loren AliKhan asked Lawson what that referred to, he said he had "no further information" to share and tried to change the subject. He said he was representing the other Big Law cases as well.

"If I could, there is a theme that will run through as this case progresses," Lawson said, asking the judge whether he could argue about a different legal issue. "Because, obviously, I'm handling the other ones as well—"

"Lucky you," the judge interjected.

Later in the hearing, when AliKhan ruled against Lawson, she said the executive order's reference to military effectiveness was "quite vague, so much so that no party here today actually knows what it is referencing."

Lawson fared no better in Monday's summary judgment hearing defending Jenner & Block's executive order. US District Judge John Bates snapped, "Give me a break," when Lawson argued the order should stand because of Trump's claim that the law firm engaged in "racial discrimination."

Bates again lost patience when Lawson argued that only Jenner & Block's contractors — but not the firm itself — had standing to sue.

Bates said it was clear Jenner & Block was harmed because the whole point of Trump's order was to single out the firm.

"The executive order talks about Jenner and cutting off money to Jenner," Bates said, sounding incredulous. "It's trying to punish Jenner by stopping the flow of money to Jenner. Well, I think it seems to me to be on its face sufficient for standing purposes."

"Well, if the court is so inclined—" Lawson began to say.

"Tell me why I shouldn't be so inclined?" Bates snapped.

A solo act

Lawson was joined on the court docket by Chad Mizelle, Bondi's chief of staff, when defending the government against the first Big Law lawsuit, by Perkins Coie.

But in recent weeks, Lawson has been left to fend for himself.

Even if their names aren't on the court docket, other attorneys are most likely helping Lawson write his briefs and doing legal research to defend Trump's executive orders, according to Ellen Blain, who previously supervised the civil division within the Manhattan US attorney's office.

"As a matter of resources and work, obviously, one person can't do it all himself," said Blain, now an attorney at Clarick Gueron Reisbaum.

Lawson may be putting on a solo act because the Justice Department's Trump-appointed leadership doesn't trust career employees — and because there simply may not be many career employees left to take on politically charged cases, Blain said. Since Trump took office, the ranks of the Justice Department's civil division have rapidly thinned, she said.

During a recent hearing in Jenner & Block's case, a federal judge asked why Lawson was defending the government alone.

"The Department of Justice has a lot of lawyers," the judge said. "Why is this all on you, Mr. Lawson?"

Lawson replied, "I, frankly, was supposed to be in Florida, but here I am."

"I don't find that much of an answer," the judge said in response.

Read the original article on Business Insider