Trump lawyer Blanche reveals income, clients in bid for DOJ post

By Mike Scarcella and David Thomas

Feb 13 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly report on lawyers and money. Please send tips or suggestions to D.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com)

President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and current nominee for a top U.S. Justice Department post earned at least $2.16 million in legal fees over the last year representing Trump, Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein and other clients, according to documents made public on Thursday.

The filings for Todd Blanche, Trump's pick for the No. 2 spot at the Justice Department, were posted on Thursday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, which oversees the executive branch’s ethics program.

A former federal prosecutor, Blanche was the lead lawyer defending Trump in his New York trial last year on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star. Trump has turned to other members of his legal team for key posts at the Justice Department.

In addition to his work for Trump, Thursday's filings showed Blanche's law firm clients included Shein, Chinese venture capital and private equity firm HongShan Capital Group and cryptocurrency firm CLS Global FZC LLC.

Representatives from the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Blanche appeared on Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing to serve as deputy U.S. attorney general. He declined to comment on Thursday about the disclosures.

Financial statements are mandatory public filings for many high-level executive branch officials. The disclosures show income from the prior calendar year up to the date of the filing.

Blanche in 2023 left Wall Street law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to open a small law office, primarily to represent Trump, according to earlier filings Blanche made to the judiciary committee.

He indicated on his ethics form he will divest financial interests in Bitcoin and other virtual currencies held in his Coinbase account, and he will sell his interests in Tesla TSLA.O, Pfizer PFE.N and Delta Air Lines DAL.N, among other companies. His holdings in the companies were listed as less than $15,000.

-- A U.S. appeals court on Thursday approved a $725 million Facebook data privacy settlement that included an award of $181 million in legal fees for the plaintiffs' lawyers, led by law firms Keller Rohrback and Bleichmar Fonti & Auld.

The lawsuit accused Facebook of violating user privacy by allowing political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and other business partners and developers to harvest user data without consent on a widespread basis.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came days after a panel heard from objectors to the settlement who argued Facebook should pay more while the plaintiffs' lawyers should get less. Facebook owner Meta Platforms denied any wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

-- Law firm profits were up 11.5% last quarter compared with a year ago — reaching a near-record high — according to the latest data from the Thomson Reuters Institute's Law Firm Financial Index.

But the boom times might not last, as the report found slower 4th quarter growth, a slight drop in lawyer productivity and an increase in both direct and overhead expenses. That could bring more challenges and temper expectations for big firms this year, the report said. (The Institute and Reuters share the same parent company.)

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