Trump Attorney Michael Cohen’s Big Law Ties

The FBI raid on the office of Michael D. Cohen—personal attorney to President Donald Trump—puts an end to his brief relationship with Big Law.

Cohen’s newly established private practice, Michael D. Cohen & Associates PC, entered into a “strategic alliance” with Squire Patton Boggs last spring, presumably to help the firm build business.

Squire Patton Boggs announced this week the alliance had ended.

“The firm’s arrangement with Mr. Cohen reached its conclusion, mutually and in accordance with the terms of the agreement,” the firm said via a spokesperson. “We have been in contact with Federal authorities regarding their execution of a warrant relating to Mr. Cohen. These activities do not relate to the firm and we are in full cooperation.”

According to the April 2017 press release, which has since been removed from the Squire website, the alliance was intended to “advance the interests of their clients as Squire Patton Boggs continues building upon its preeminent global public policy offering.”

The firm’s public policy practice includes high-profile former members of government, including former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi).

Under the terms of the alliance, Cohen worked out of the firm’s New York office, located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, but maintained his independence as a solo practitioner. He used none of Squire’s services or personnel.

His relationship with Squire lasted almost exactly a year from its announcement, starting in April 2017 and ending on April 9, 2018, the day of the FBI raid of his office, home and hotel room in New York. Cohen’s lawyer said he was told by prosecutors the raid stemmed in part from a referral by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Outside of this brief relationship, Cohen has few ties to Big Law—with the notable exception of his own lawyer, McDermott Will & Emery partner Stephen Ryan. Ryan has held numerous jobs in the federal government, including as general counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. He now provides lobbying, litigation, and counseling work to highly-regulated companies.

Ryan in a statement called the search of Cohen’s office, which was led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, “completely inappropriate and unnecessary” because it included the seizure of privileged communications.

Before starting his own practice and representing Trump at the White House, Cohen was executive vice president of the Trump Organization and special counsel to Trump. Trump has been his primary client for over a decade, and Cohen regularly boasts of his “loyalty” to the president.

In early March, Cohen shared a CNN story describing his role as Trump’s “fixer,” writing on Twitter, “Thank you @BrianToddCNN @cnn for your accurate depiction of me and my role for our @POTUS @realDonaldTrump! #loyalty #RayDonovan #fixer.” Ray Donovan, the title character of a Showtime drama, “does the dirty work for L.A.’s top power players,” according to the show’s description.

“If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit,” Cohen said in a 2011 interview with ABC News. “If you do something wrong, I’m going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I’m not going to let you go until I’m finished.”

Cohen began his career as a personal injury lawyer before becoming a taxi fleet manager and, briefly, a corporate partner at New York-based Phillips Nizer. Cohen attended Thomas M. Cooley Law School, a private law school in Michigan that has seen its bar pass rate plummet to just above 50 percent in recent years.