US Must Share Some Judge Romance Probe Info With Jackson Walker

The Justice Department will satisfy a set of information requests from Jackson Walker LLP while investigating the law firm’s knowledge of a former partner’s romantic relationship with a now-resigned Houston bankruptcy judge.

Judge Eduardo V. Rodriguez of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas issued specific instructions Tuesday requiring the federal government’s US Trustee office in South Texas to provide Jackson Walker with discovery documents and answers to various questions regarding the office’s probe of the firm.

Jackson Walker, which is embroiled in US Trustee litigation for not disclosing the relationship between attorney Elizabeth Freeman and former judge David R. Jones, brought the matter to Rodriguez after reaching an impasse over several of its interrogatories and record requests.

The Texas law firm has argued that it is entitled to know whether the office of US Trustee Kevin Epstein knew about the romance before Jones admitted to it last year and what sort of communications the DOJ bankruptcy monitor has received from others about the relationship. Jackson Walker says the US Trustee has stonewalled the firm’s efforts to acquire information that may help it build a legal defense, while at the same time conducting what the firm has called a “wide ranging fishing expedition in discovery” that has roped in dozens of attorneys and acquaintances of Jones and Freeman.

Appearing in court Tuesday, US Trustee attorney Laura Steele argued the office has provided relevant responses to Jackson Walker, which she said is “trying to shift the focus” away from the firm and its own concealment of information about the relationship until it publicly came to light last year.

“The US Trustee did not have actual knowledge because Jackson Walker concealed it,” Steele said Tuesday. “This case is about Jackson Walker’s disclosures.”

Though the sides disputed the relevance and scope of certain discovery requests, like whether the US Trustee should have to produce any and all documents that concern knowledge of rumors about the relationship, they later consented to an order drafted by Rodriguez clarifying the government’s specific discovery duties.

The dispute is one of many borne out of the US Trustee’s effort to claw back more than $13 million in fees that Jackson Walker collected in cases handled by Jones while the firm employed Freeman until her departure in late 2022. The extent of the government’s potential probe targets has swelled to include Jones’ former benchmates on the court—including Rodriguez—and attorneys at other law firms that spent time with Jones and Freeman.

The case is Professional Fee Matters Concerning Jackson Walker Law Firm, Bankr. S.D. Tex., No. 23-00645, hearing 8/27/24.