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The NYT's Business Investigations Editor reveals the dark side of American law. Delivering a "devastating and rollicking" (Carol Leonnig) exposé of the astonishing power wielded by the world’s largest law firms, David Enrich traces how one firm shielded OPIOID MAKERS, GUN COMPANIES, BIG TOBACCO, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS, FOX NEWS, and much of the FORTUNE 500; helped DONALD TRUMP get elected, govern, and evade investigation; masterminded the conservative remaking of THE COURTS . . . AND MADE A KILLING ALONG THE WAY In his acclaimed #1 bestseller Dark Towers, David Enrich presented the never-before-told saga of how Deutsche Bank became the global face of financial recklessness and criminality. Now Enrich turns his eye towards the world of “Big Law” and the nearly unchecked influence these firms wield to shield the wealthy and powerful—and bury their secrets. To tell this story, Enrich focuses on Jones Day, one of the world’s largest law firms. Jones Day’s narrative arc—founded in Cleveland in 1893, it became the first law firm to expand nationally and is now a global juggernaut with deep ties to corporate interests and conservative politics—is a powerful encapsulation of the changes that have swept the legal industry in recent decades. Since 2016, Jones Day has been in the spotlight for representing Donald Trump and his campaigns (and now his PACs)—and for the fleet of Jones Day attorneys who joined his administration, including White House Counsel Don McGahn. Jones Day helped Trump fend off the Mueller investigation and challenged Obamacare. Its once and future lawyers defended Trump’s Muslim ban and border policies and handled his judicial nominations. Jones Day even laid some of the legal groundwork for Trump to challenge the legitimacy of the 2020 election. But the Trump work is but one chapter in the firm’s checkered history. Jones Day, like many of its peers, have become highly effective enablers of the business world’s worst misbehavior. The firm has for decades represented Big Tobacco in its fight to avoid liability for its products. Jones Day worked tirelessly for the Catholic Church as it tried to minimize its sexual-abuse scandals. And for Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, as it sought to protect its right to make and market its dangerously addictive drug. And for Fox News as it waged war against employees who were the victims of sexual harassment and retaliation. And for Russian oligarchs as their companies sought to expand internationally. In this gripping and revealing new work of narrative nonfiction, Enrich makes the compelling central argument that law firms like Jones Day play a crucial yet largely hidden role in enabling and protecting powerful bad actors in our society, housing their darkest secrets, and earning billions in revenue for themselves.
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I've been pretty put off by big name lawyers in America in the first time I read She Said and Catch and Kill and saw how Harvey Weinstein was able to intimidate and threaten his victims, any witnesses and the journalists wanting to uncover his crimes - by employing high powered lawyers and using their full legal apparatus against those who possibly couldn't afford costly legal challenges.
And this book only increases my ire and makes me more pessimistic because nothing is going to change. Big law and politics and multibillion dollar corporations are all deeply intertwined and nothing's gonna separate them. Corporations will continue to spend significant amounts of money on their lawyers so that they can do whatever they want with impunity and as less government oversight as possible; the big law firms will throw all their power at the government lawyers who probably will never have enough budgets to confront big corporations; and lawyers and high level government officials will just keep changing their jobs from law firm to government to lobbying to law firm ... till it's just a vicious circle, where all these people with money and power get what they want, and the public is left with nothing.
Jones Day is just one part of this big corrupt enterprise, which the author goes deep into explaining the origins of and how as the firm grew, it changed from a principled midwestern law firm to a right wing legal organization where power is prime and there is no ethical boundary while serving a client. I don't know why I keep reading these books which just make me despair more, but I guess atleast knowing a bit about the reality of our world is much better than being totally ignorant.