As Establishment Warms to Trump, Elite Law Firm Takes On His Appeal

A lawyer from one of Manhattan’s most prominent law firms will lead the appeal of President Trump’s criminal conviction, according to court papers filed on Wednesday that formally announced the appeal.

The participation of the lawyer, Robert Giuffra Jr., a co-chair of Sullivan & Cromwell and one of New York’s better-known appellate lawyers, adds muscle behind Mr. Trump’s long-anticipated attempt to overturn his conviction. He was found guilty last year on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a case brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Mr. Giuffra’s involvement underscores how New York’s legal power players have warmed to the president. Mr. Trump was spurned by lawyers from major firms when he left office four years ago, but his second victory has brought about a sea change. Many large corporations and business leaders have lined up to support the second Trump administration.

“President Donald J. Trump’s appeal is important for the rule of law, New York’s reputation as a global business, financial and legal center, as well as for the presidency and all public officials,” Mr. Giuffra said in a statement. “The misuse of the criminal law by the Manhattan D.A. to target President Trump sets a dangerous precedent.”

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, declined to comment.

In a seven-week trial last spring, the district attorney’s office persuaded a jury that the president had approved the falsification of records to disguise a scheme to hide three potentially damaging stories from the public during his first White House run in 2016.

To conceal the last of those stories, prosecutors argued, Mr. Trump dispatched his fixer at the time, Michael D. Cohen, to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who told the jury her story of sex with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen was then reimbursed in 2017, leaving a paper trail of 34 documents that prosecutors said were false business records.

Mr. Trump’s defense lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, fought the conviction, but the president has named both men to high positions in the U.S. Justice Department. Now, Mr. Giuffra will face off against the district attorney’s head of appeals, Steven Wu, as the case is heard by a midlevel appeals court in Manhattan.

The case presents various issues for the court. Falsifying business records is a felony only if the records were faked to conceal a second crime. In Mr. Trump’s case, prosecutors argued that second crime was a violation of state election law that prohibits a conspiracy to promote a candidacy “by unlawful means.”

That complex legal theory was approved by the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, and a federal judge who evaluated the case, Alvin K. Hellerstein, took no issue with it. But it may be vulnerable to the scrutiny of appellate judges.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers have also argued that the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity last summer — a decision that fatally delayed a federal criminal case in which Mr. Trump was accused of working to overturn the 2020 election — invalidates some of the trial evidence.

Another vulnerability may spring from Ms. Daniels’s testimony. After her first morning on the stand, Mr. Trump’s lawyers moved for a mistrial, arguing that her graphic testimony about sex with their client had prejudiced the jury. Justice Merchan said that while he agreed that Ms. Daniels had said things “that would probably have been better left unsaid,” a mistrial was not warranted.

This month, Justice Merchan sentenced Mr. Trump, but gave him what is known as an unconditional discharge. The sentence carries no penalty, but formalized the president’s status as a felon. That status will stand until the appeal is decided.

Mr. Giuffra, and the other four Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers handling the appeal — Matthew Schwartz, James McDonald, Jeffrey Wall and Morgan Ratner — all clerked at the Supreme Court and are partners at the firm. Mr. Wall is the former acting U.S. solicitor general and Ms. Ratner worked in the solicitor general’s office, where she argued multiple Supreme Court cases.

The group’s decision to take on the appeal is the latest link between Sullivan & Cromwell and the president. Mr. Trump named Jay Clayton, a former partner who is currently of counsel at the firm, as his pick to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.

The posture of the firm echoes that taken by high-profile business leaders across the country. But it is not wholly without risk: Some clients might look askance at any affiliation with a polarizing president.

Mr. Giuffra, who donated to Mr. Trump’s campaign and other Republican causes, was under consideration to represent Mr. Trump during his first term, but ultimately did not join his legal team.

Ben Protess contributed reporting.