Three Top Republican Lawyers Leaving Patton Boggs to Establish Practice with Jones Day

The Washington Post reports:

Three leading Republican attorneys will leave lobbying and law firm Patton Boggs for Jones Day to establish a new political and election law practice.

Jones Day will announce Friday morning that Benjamin Ginsberg, Donald McGahn and William McGinley will join the firm’s government regulation practice as partners beginning Monday.

The three attorneys have been involved in Republican legal circles for decades. Ginsberg, who headed the Patton Boggs practice, served as national counsel to President George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004, and as counsel for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.

McGahn, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission who joined Patton Boggs last year, worked as the top lawyer for the National Republican Congressional Committee for a decade before he was nominated to serve on the FEC in 2008.

McGinley served as general counsel at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and has represented several members of Congress who found themselves enmeshed in ethics scandals. McGinley has represented Reps. Michael G. Grimm (R-N.Y.) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) in recent years.

“It’s a fortunate acquisition for Jones Day. They’re three very, very skilled lawyers, each in different ways,” said Brian Svoboda, a Democratic election lawyer at Perkins Coie. “Ben is one of the original leaders in this line of work. Don has deep and significant experience in the Federal Election Commission rules and in political law practice, and Bill is a major and knowledgeable attorney, particularly in the congressional ethics sphere.”

“Jones Day is already well known for its challenges to overreaching government regulation, including lawsuits challenging the Affordable Care Act, the President’s recess appointments power, and infringements on the free speech rights of individuals and companies,” Noel Francisco, head of Jones Day’s government regulation practice, says in a news release to be issued Friday morning. “The arrival of Ben, Don and Bill further cements our position as the ‘go to’ Firm for challenging government overreach and regulation, including in the areas of election and political law.”

Ginsberg, McGahn and McGinley are the latest high-profile partners to depart Patton Boggs. The firm itself will cease to exist over the weekend after announcing last week that it will merge with Squire Sanders, the global firm based in Cleveland; on Sunday, the merged firms will begin doing business as Squire Patton Boggs.

On Thursday, a group of six health-care attorneys in Washington — led by partner John Jonas, who founded the health practice at Patton Boggs — announced plans to join rival Akin Gump. . . .