23andMe Privacy Reviewer Defends WilmerHale as Choice of Counsel

The consumer privacy ombudsman in 23andMe’s sale of customers’ genetic data is defending his choice of counsel against objections from the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog.

Neil Richards, a Washington University School of Law professor appointed by the court to make privacy recommendations in 23andMe’s asset sale, denies that WilmerHale has disqualifying conflicts of interest in the case.

The US Trustee in June objected to Richards’ choice of counsel, citing a possible conflict of interest due to the firm’s work for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. on unrelated matters. Regeneron was named a backup bidder in the asset sale.

“To disqualify WilmerHale now, based on a remote and hypothetical possibility of a conflict that never presented itself, would be to create an unworkable rule,” the filing said.

The US Trustee’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The filing argues that WilmerHale’s work for Regeneron in matters unrelated to the Chapter 11 case doesn’t create an actual conflict and that the US Trustee is holding WilmerHale to a higher standard than prescribed by bankruptcy law.

Because Regeneron was not one of the original parties in the interest list, WilmerHale had no prior knowledge of the company’s involvement before it submitted a bid, over which the law firm “had no control,” the filing says.

This scenario doesn’t even require disqualification and would “upend the orderly operation of large chapter 11 cases,” it said.

The fees WilmerHale collected from Regeneron in 2024 accounted for less than 0.04% of the firm’s revenue, no other party objected to the firm’s retention, and Richards’ work has concluded, the response said.

Judge Brian C. Walsh of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri approved 23andMe’s genetic data asset sale on June 27 to 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki and TTAM Research Institute, which ultimately outbid Regeneron for the assets, including more than 13 million users’ genetic data.

“The CPO’s role, and WilmerHale’s representation of the CPO, has concluded,” the response says. “Denying the CPO’s retention of WilmerHale would not change the Report, the selection of TTAM as the successful bidder, the CPO’s testimony at the sale hearing, or the Court’s approval of the sale to TTAM.”

Husch Blackwell LLP is also named as a proposed attorney for Richards.

The case is 23andMe Holding Co., Bankr. E.D. Mo., 4:25-bk-40976, 7/8/25.