LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE LAWYERS

Thursday 20^th April 2023

On looking into legal teams for Dominion I was not aware that the legal profession had reached such fashionable status as to become ‘boutique’ enterprises.

 

Davida Brook, Justin Nelson, and Stephen Shackelford, are partners in the firm Susman Godfrey LLP. They claim on their website:

“Susman Godfrey is America’s premier litigation boutique. Our talented group of lawyers handle high-stakes litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants nationwide. Because we work on both sides of the docket, we know what our opposition is thinking. With more than 150 trial lawyers in four offices from coast to coast, we handle the most challenging cases throughout the country. We offer a broad range of creative, flexible fee structures which align our and our clients’ interests. Traditional hourly billing accounts for a very small percentage of our work. Because we often share risk with our clients, evaluating cases accurately is crucial, and we do it early and often.”

 

“In 1976, firm founder Steve Susman set up a plaintiffs’ commercial litigation practice inside a small Houston maritime law firm. Four years later, Susman’s band of fledgling trial lawyers won the then-largest verdict in antitrust history in the landmark Corrugated Containers case. Soon after, the group formed their own commercial litigation boutique, adding Lee Godfrey in 1983. Godfrey continued as a co-managing partner until his retirement in 2013. Since its founding, the firm has grown organically, and a majority of our lawyers have opted to spend their entire careers here. Susman Godfrey offices in Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York have grown into powerhouses that represent both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of complex, commercial litigation. Yet the firm remains a cohesive unit. Trial teams often include personnel from two or more offices. All partners, of counsel, and associates meet weekly to discuss and act on case acceptance matters and other issues. Each of these lawyers has the same vote on most questions, including employment and case acceptance decisions.”

 

Steve Susman was born in Houston, did law at University of Texas and at Yale graduating magna cum laude. Lee Godfrey is another Texan who attended University of Texas and Yale Institute of Far Eastern Languages. Godfrey was President Clinton’s choice for U.S. Ambassador to Brazil in 1996.

 

There are now some 90 Partners in the firm, most of whom operate from Houston, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. There are some 168 attorneys on the roster with two managing partners. Vineet Bhatia (Rice and Columbia Law) in Houston, and Kalpana Srinivasan (Yale and Stanford Universities) in Los Angeles.

 

 

The leading trio that acted for Dominion in their suit against Fox are Stephen Shackelford from the New York Office (Harvard University and Harvard Law 2005), Davida Brook from Los Angeles (Columbia and Stanford Law), and Justin A Nelson (Yale and Columbia University 2000) based in Houston.

Shackelford - Brook - Nelson

The boutique operates on a mainly contingency fee basis which, I believe, starts at about 1/3 depending on the case and client. They do accommodate smaller pockets and have a thriving pro bono practice, which they should after having obtained something in the region of $262.5 million on the 19^th April 2023. One should note however that there were other law firms involved including Alexandria, Va. based Clare Locke LLP, a firm with defamation law expertise, and Delaware’s, Farnan LLP. Clare Locke are the lawyers in the case against Sidney Powell, Rudolph W Giuliani and My Pillow Inc. (Mike Lidell). Clare Locke is another of the American boutique firms. They are not as grand. Tom Clare is a University of Notre Dane graduate whilst Libby Locke is Georgetown University Law and New York University B.A.

 

 

It's good to know that Litigation Boutiques have such prominence on the American scene. It is so gratifying to know that trying on lawyers is equated with trying on dresses. Indeed there is little distinction between the two. Boutiques always seem to have the best off the peg as well as access to the best bespoke. Whatever is in fashion always comes with accessories, hence the plethora of lawyers at all the press briefings.

 

I would also note, for those who were fans of TV Series Frasier you will note the similarity between Libby Locke and Harriet Sansom Harris who portrayed Frasier’s agent Bebe Glazer.

 

Here is a short view of Bebe at work. I am sure Libby is just as in control.