Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is starting a law firm with three other attorneys who investigated President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Timothy Heaphy, who is joining Smith at the new firm, on Tuesday confirmed the plan first reported by The New York Times. Heaphy is a Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner who served as chief investigative counsel for the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
The firm is the latest litigation boutique to pop up in the wake of Trump’s attacks on lawyers who investigated him or went up against him in court. Smith led probes into Trump’s alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents at his Florida estate.
The roster of practitioners at the new firm will include former government lawyers who went up against Trump in high-profile matters. Also joining the firm are Thomas Windom—a Smith aide who worked on the 2020 election inquiry—and David Harbach, a former O’Melveny & Myers partner who worked on the classified documents case.
The new firm will focus on trial work and investigations, Heaphy confirmed. He declined to provide further comment until the new venture launches in January.
Smith has been under fire from Republicans since Trump returned to the White House this year. He secured indictments against the president stemming from both investigations, but a federal judge in Florida dismissed the documents case and Smith dropped an election interference case in Washington after Trump was voted back into office.
Windom and Smith have clashed with GOP lawmakers during Trump’s second term.
GOP lawmakers are looking to haul Smith to Capitol Hill for questioning about the Trump investigations, including his efforts to obtain elected officials’ phone records. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Nov. 19 referred Windom to the Justice Department for prosecution for allegedly declining to answer committee questions about his role on Smith’s team.
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