WASHINGTON — Marc Mukasey, former longtime law partner of Rudy Giuliani, has left the global law firm where he had been practicing to begin a boutique trial law firm — and one of his first new clients is President Donald Trump.
Mukasey, the son of the former attorney general Michael Mukasey, left the firm of Greenberg Traurig in mid-January to launch his own firm, a person familiar with his plans told BuzzFeed News.
Marc Mukasey had been the global cochair of the firm’s white-collar defense and special investigations practice before leaving, with the firm having been promoting him as such as recently as a Jan. 15 blog post geared toward Israeli companies.
On Feb. 8, however, Mukasey was out on his own — one of two lawyers representing Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and the Trump Foundation in responding to the civil lawsuit filed by the New York State Attorney General's Office alleging wrongdoing by the foundation. CNN previously reported Mukasey's involvement in the case.
The person familiar with Mukasey's plans, however, said the departure was not related to and preceded his representation of the Trumps, and that Mukasey already has multiple clients beyond the Trumps.
When Giuliani joined Trump's outside legal team responding to the Russia investigation in April 2018, there initially were reports that Mukasey was considering joining the team. Ultimately, though, he did not, and he stayed at Greenberg Traurig for the time being.
While at Greenberg Traurig, Mukasey had been involved, peripherally, in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, representing Joel Zamel of Psy-Group. Zamel had attended a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower, the New York Times previously reported, and the New Yorker reported on Monday that Psy-Group, an Israeli private intelligence company, had been attempting to "break into the U.S. election market" — part of the company's "larger ambition."
That representation continues at Mukasey's new firm.
The new firm, the person familiar with Mukasey's plans said, is to be a boutique firm focused on white-collar criminal defense and will be "more than a one-man shop." It was not immediately clear what lawyers beyond Mukasey would be joining the new firm.