Bill Barr Molds ‘DC Problem Solver’ Firm With DOJ, Big Law Alum

Former Attorney General Bill Barr’s litigation boutique is growing its roster of GOP lawyers, looking to become a go-to firm in a nation’s capital long dominated by more established players.

Torridon Law last month hired Mike Fragoso, chief counsel to former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, as a partner in Washington. His practice combines legal strategy, litigation, and policy while focusing primarily on congressional investigations.

The firm in March also brought on Dan Brouillette, President Donald Trump’s former energy secretary, to its strategic advisory arm, and it hired litigator Cody Reaves from Sidley Austin. They join a roster of 25 lawyers littered with government, law firm, and corporate counsel credentials—including some attorneys whose work with Barr stretches back decades.

Most lawyers at the firm have deep Republican ties, but Torridon’s leaders emphasized their overall government and Big Law experience.

“We are building a law firm that, regardless of politics, takes on the most difficult matters,” said Pat Cipollone, former White House counsel under Trump, in an interview. “We try to build the firm with people who are excellent lawyers who have achieved great things in their career.”

Former AOL TimeWarner general counsel Paul Cappuccio and Securities and Exchange Commission official David Levine are among Torridon’s partners, along with Justin Romeo, who served as the Senate Judiciary Committee’s chief counsel under South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham. Tara Helfman, an ex-aide to Trump, and David Urban, a lobbyist and CNN conservative pundit, are also working at the firm.

Torridon has picked up high-stakes disputes, such as an artificial intelligence suit for Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones & Co. and a case by two Columbia University custodians who claim they were attacked during campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. It also successfully defended Fox News personality Jessica Tarlov over claims that she defamed a witness at House impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

Access Matters

Access to the Trump administration is a key selling point for law firms of all sizes in the nation’s capital. The president’s attacks on some Big Law firms, through a series of executive orders, and deals reached with others underscore the possible business implications of tangling with Trump.

“It just feels like the stakes are maybe higher these days than they ever have been before to make sure that you have access,” said Jeffrey Lowe, a Washington-based legal recruiter at CenterPeak.

Fragoso began looking at private sector opportunities after McConnell announced he would relinquish his role as Senate leader. The Kentucky lawmaker was central in helping Trump shape the Supreme Court and federal judiciary in his first term, but later became a frequent target of insults from the president over his positions on other issues.

He said he was drawn by Barr’s vision of the firm: “The kind of place where if you have DC problems, you can come to them and they’ll solve it, whether that problem is in Congress, the executive branch, or in litigation.”

Fragoso also helped steer Trump’s judicial nominations during the first term, as he worked under Barr in the Justice Department’s office of legal policy. He ushered Justice Brett Kavanaugh through a contentious confirmation process, while preparing more than 100 other nominees for Senate hearings.

“Many Republican leadership staff were either hired and/or mentored by Mike Fragoso,” a Senate Republican leadership aide said. “So he—and Torridon—are my first call when I need procedural help or have to deal with something that intersects between politics and policy,” said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships.

“Now, the old firms are irrelevant to Republican staff,” the aide said.

Barr’s Role

Barr’s own relationship with Trump has run hot and cold since he left the Justice Department at the end of the president’s first term.

He called the president’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen “bull——" during a House committee investigation of the Jan. 6 US Capitol attack and later said Trump was unfit for office. But Barr also backed Trump in the November election, calling Democrats the greater threat.

He founded Torridon in late 2022, naming the firm for a Scottish Highlands area that he visits. Co-founder Ted Ullyot, the former Facebook general counsel, is set to leave the firm in May after being named chief legal officer for the National Football League.

“If our clients feel like they are receiving the very best representation on their most challenging matters and lawyers feel like they can join us and be part of something first rate, then I’m happy,” Barr, who also served as attorney general for George H.W. Bush, said in a statement. “It’s that simple for me. And I’m very pleased how that is going so far.”

Cipollone defended Trump in the 2020 Senate impeachment trial and helped shepherd Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination through the confirmation process. He and Torridon partner Pat Philbin resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee report.

They’re among the partners who also crossed paths with Barr at Kirkland & Ellis. Torridon emphasizes the advantages that come with being a nimble boutique firm that has adaptable fees and a small management committee. It also doesn’t do billing credit or calculate realization rates.

“We offer an interesting alternative, not only for equity and other partners, but also for younger lawyers who want to work on top notch cases but may prefer to do it in a setting that’s more like ours and less big firm bureaucracy,” Cappuccio said.