Sullivan & Cromwell has built an increasingly close relationship with the Trump White House during the president’s second term in office.
The white-shoe firm counts Donald Trump himself as a personal client, with co-chair Bob Giuffra leading a team representing the president in his criminal appeal of the Manhattan hush money conviction.
That arrangement has drawn significant controversy both inside and outside the firm, given the blurred lines between Giuffra’s role as Trump’s personal attorney and his apparent influence over how the president wields executive power.
Now the relationship has deepened further, with Trump nominating Sullivan & Cromwell partner James McDonald to serve as the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
McDonald would replace fellow Sullivan & Cromwell alumnus Jay Clayton, who spent over two decades at the firm before serving as SEC chair during Trump’s first term and has since been nominated as Director of National Intelligence.
The nomination raises immediate questions given McDonald’s direct involvement in Trump’s legal battles, as he has been part of the team working to overturn the president’s Manhattan conviction for falsifying business records.
That legal team also includes co-chair Bob Giuffra, fellow Sullivan & Cromwell partner Matthew Schwartz, and associate Maxwell Gottschall, meaning Trump has effectively nominated one of his own defence lawyers to become Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor.
Sullivan & Cromwell responded to the news with a statement from Giuffra and co-chair Scott Miller, describing McDonald as “an exceptional lawyer who is widely respected for his judgment, integrity and fairness.”
The statement also highlighted McDonald’s “distinguished career, including as CFTC director of enforcement and as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District,” framing the nomination as a natural progression of his public service record.
Senior lawyers at other major law firms and career prosecutors have nonetheless raised concerns about whether Sullivan & Cromwell’s clients “are getting favorable treatment at the Justice Department — not because the facts of the law compel it,” but due to senior partners’ close alignment with the president.
One former Justice Department official noted that “Sullivan & Cromwell understands the D.C. game and knows that staying close to the president is the best way to navigate the current environment.”
Law firms have long sought to leverage close relationships at the Justice Department on behalf of their clients, a practice many lawyers view as straightforward zealous advocacy, but the depth of Sullivan & Cromwell’s ties to the current administration is drawing unusual scrutiny.