Yates to Host ‘Lawyers for Harris’ in LA With $10,000 Ticket (1)

Sally Yates, a King & Spalding partner and former Democratic acting attorney general, is joining the legal industry’s rush to raise money for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid.

Yates, who was fired from the Justice Department 10 days after President Donald Trump took office in 2017, is hosting a reception dubbed “Lawyers for Harris” Sept. 5 in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to an email invitation for the event viewed by Bloomberg Law.

Lawyer co-chairs for the event include Aaron Jacoby, managing partner of ArentFox Schiff’s Los Angeles office, and Alex Weingarten, managing partner of Willkie Farr’s Los Angeles office. Tickets range from $1,000 to $10,000. Attendees have the option to add additional contributions.

The lawyers are embracing a role they played in past campaigns for one of their own. They donated more than $2 million to Harris’ 2018 Senate bid and gave the attorney more than $3 million during her first presidential run in 2020.

Those listed on the invitation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York Times first reported the fundraiser via X, formerly known as Twitter.

The event has already exceeded expectations, according to one of the co-hosts, Adam Sieff, counsel at Davis Wright Tremaine. Sieff, who worked on voter protection legal matters for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, declined to specify the total amount being raised.

“The goal was to bring lawyers together in Los Angeles, activate them and get them to contribute to the campaign and plug them into opportunities to help,” Sieff said. “We succeeded at doing that.”

Trump fired Yates, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, after she told Justice Department staff not to defend an executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is hosting a separate Los Angeles reception for his wife on Tuesday evening, with ticket prices ranging from $1,000 to $100,000, according to an invitation viewed by Bloomberg Law. Emhoff is a former partner at Veneble and DLA Piper.

Harris recently raised $13 million at a fundraiser in San Francisco, and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz is slated to attend five fundraisers this week.