Lawyers Prep to Defend DOJ Workforce From Trump-Directed Probes

A cottage industry of Washington defense lawyers is coalescing to represent a Justice Department workforce fearful of being targeted with investigations when Donald Trump retakes the White House.

Since Trump’s victory last month, attorneys have been fielding calls from current and former DOJ officials, lower-level career prosecutors, and FBI agents, said five defense lawyers, some of whom spoke anonymously to detail private conversations.

Whether it’s congressional scrutiny, criminal investigations, or internal DOJ watchdog probes, the defense bar is advising them on how to prepare if Trump and his law enforcement appointees make good on promises to probe or otherwise retaliate against those involved in politically sensitive cases. The president-elect has also pledged to dismantle the “deep state” by firing “rogue bureaucrats.”

“There are a lot of calls and there’s a lot of nervousness,” said Matt Kaiser, founder of the litigation boutique Kaiser PLLC, which specializes in defending lawyers facing ethics and malpractice complaints. “There’s not a ton to do at this point, and I think it depends on where the action will be.”

The discussions are sometimes informal, as many federal workers aren’t retaining counsel until they see how serious Trump will be as president to carry out campaign threats of prosecuting those he feels wronged him and his base.

‘Not Paranoid’

The lawyers from small boutiques and Big Law are of mixed minds as to what form investigations may take or how much of it to expect. But even at this preliminary and nebulous stage, they’re strategizing over how they’ll take on a potential surge of new clients.

“These conversations are not paranoid because we have Pam Bondi who goes on Fox News and says this is what’s going to happen,” said Andrea Moseley, who as co-founding partner of Kropf Moseley represents attorneys accused of misconduct. “Now on what level do they do these things—that’s really what’s unknown.”

She was referring to Trump selecting his personal lawyer and former Florida attorney general as US attorney general after Bondi declared in a 2023 television interview that “the prosecutors will be prosecuted—the bad ones” once Trump is president again.

Defense lawyers are skeptical that criminal prosecutions, such as against Special Counsel Jack Smith, would materialize, given the high standard of proof to satisfy judges and juries. But the more “low-hanging fruit” to “destroy their career prospects” without needing a neutral arbiter would be investigations from DOJ’s inspector general, said Sara Kropf, who is Moseley’s law partner. Kropf noted that Trump, who showed a penchant for firing agency watchdogs in his prior presidency, could replace the department’s IG.

Financial Concerns

Another source of concern in the defense bar is how DOJ employees, many of whom are career civil servants, will pay their legal bills.

“There’s going to be this huge need for qualified counsel by a lot of people who can’t afford to pay the rates of people like me,” said Aitan Goelman, a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder. “And how is that need going to be met?”

Goelman said his experience representing former FBI official Peter Strzok, who was fired in 2018 and investigated after the release of his anti-Trump texts, has “100% informed what I am worried about happening in the next administration.”

Discussions are underway about pro bono or low bono representation for civil servants, several Big Law attorneys said.

The planned nomination of Kash Patel as FBI director has escalated preparations. Patel has called for firing and prosecuting disloyal federal employees.

“Firms large and small around DC and elsewhere are going to have people calling with questions about civil service protections, employment protections, whistleblower protections, and also seeking help navigating investigations— whether by Congress or internally,” said Austin Evers, an associate deputy attorney general in the Biden administration who now co-chairs the congressional investigations practice at Freshfields. “These are pretty nuanced areas of law.”