Scuttled Biden court nominee joins Linklaters in firm's latest New York expansion

By Sara Merken

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Adeel Mangi, whose nomination by Democratic former President Joe Biden to become the nation's first Muslim federal appeals court judge was blocked by Senate Republicans, has joined Linklaters, the law firm said on Friday.

Mangi, whom Biden had nominated to serve on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is joining London-founded Linklaters alongside partners Muhammad Faridi, Diana Conner and George LoBiondo, who all previously practiced at U.S. firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.

The team is Linklaters' latest U.S. addition after bringing on at least two other groups of lawyers in New York since last year in finance and corporate practices, in addition to other hires. The firm said its U.S. market revenues had increased 24% the prior year.

Mangi, Faridi, Conner and LoBiondo were not immediately available for comment. Adam Lurie, who leads Linklaters' U.S. litigation, arbitration and investigations team, in a statement said the four partners add strength as the firm amid an uptick in trials.

Mangi in December criticized what he called an "organized smear campaign" that derailed his nomination to become the nation's first Muslim federal appeals court judge, telling Biden his failure to win confirmation showed the judicial appointment process was "fundamentally broken." He conceded no viable path remained for him to be confirmed after Democrats and Republicans in the Senate struck a deal on judicial nominations post-election.

Patterson Belknap co-chair and managing partner Dahlia Doumar in a statement wished the four partners well.