Trump’s new legal team includes lawyers who have represented Lisa Marie Presley and sued OJ Simpson
Plenty of personal injury lawyers are among crew who signed onto the suit
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Former President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he would file class-action lawsuits against Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s head Mark Zuckerberg because of their continued ban on his accounts.
Of course, Trump’s legal teams before and during his presidency have a dubious history. From Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer who flipped on Trump and went to prison, to the outlandish conspiracy theorists like Sidney Powell and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Of course, Trump’s first major fixer was the attorney Roy Cohn, the infamous former chief counsel during Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunt.
Similarly, it appears that the former president’s current coterie of lawyers are far from experts on technology, given their backgrounds. Here is a roundup of the lawyers who signed onto Trump’s lawsuit.
Matthew L Baldwin
Mr Baldwin is a partner at Vargas Gonzalez Baldwin Lombard and is based in Coral Gables, which is in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and according to the firm’s website, he is its trial counsel who focuses on its first-party insurance litigation. Prior to that, he worked as an assistant state attorney in Miami-Dade and eventually specialised in homicides.
Frank Dudenhefer
Mr Dudenhefer’s online footprint is relatively thin. According to Justia, he is primarily a personal injury attorney.
John P Coale
These days, Mr Coale is a retired attorney mostly known for being married to former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren. He helped set up former Republican vice presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s political action committee. He has also supported Democrats, as was the case when he supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary (though he supported John McCain in the general election) and represented Lisa Marie Presley during her divorce from Michael Jackson.
John Q Kelly
Mr Kelly’s main claim to fame is his time as the lead attorney for the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson during its wrongful death lawsuit against OJ Simpson. His website cites him as a “nationally-recognized personal injury lawyer.” He also represented the mother of Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old who disappeared in Aruba in 2005.
Ryan S Tougias
Mr Tougias works at Ivey, Barnum & O’Mara, the same firm as Mr. Kelly, and focuses mostly on civil and commercial litigation, personal injury and wrongful death.
Sean M Hamill
Mr Hamill also works at Ivey, Barnum & O’Mara but there is little information on his background online, though his LinkedIn profile shows he is an associate at the firm.
Roland A Paul
Mr Paul also works at Ivey, Barnum & O’Mara, though he seems to have more experience and is not a personal injury lawyer. His web page shows he focuses mostly on private equity, corporate law; commercial law; securities matters; and acquisitions and findings.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments