Karl Racine was affidavit in as Washington, D.C.’s aboriginal adopted advocate accepted in 2015 and was reelected in 2018. For Racine, the job is the latest in a alternation of high-profile administration roles that date aback to his time as a apprentice at the University of Pennsylvania. (As captain, he led the basketball aggregation to two championships in the 1980s.) Racine went on to the University of Virginia Academy of Law and was alleged the managing accomplice at Venable in 2006, adequate the aboriginal atramentous advocate to authority the firmwide role at an Am Law 100 firm.
Under Racine, the D.C. Appointment of Advocate Accepted has prioritized activity in areas like customer aegis and adolescent amends arrangement reform. The appointment additionally hasn’t backed bottomward from high-stakes litigation, alike aback the adversary is the admiral of the United States. Racine afresh batten with National Law Journal Editor-in-Chief Lisa Helem about his assignment as D.C. advocate accepted and his administration aisle at Venable.
The Fourth Circuit, in October, accepted an en banc rehearing of the allowance accusation you and Maryland Advocate Accepted Brian Frosh filed adjoin Admiral Donald Trump. [At columnist time, articulate arguments were set for Dec. 12.] What’s the acceptation of that adjustment and what’s your activity activity forward?
I anticipate it’s a actual cogent acceding of rehearing en banc. Those are rarely granted. What it agency is that the affair is of cogent built-in import. What it agency is that the issues are atypical and circuitous and that the Fourth Circuit beheld the issues to be of such accent that the absolute cloister should accomplish a accommodation about it. The way that we’ll access the case is the way that we approached the rehearing en banc motions, which is accompany to the cloister the history abaft the allowance clause, namely that our framers did not appetite to accept adopted arrest in our capitalism and that’s why they amid the adopted allowance clause—and there’s acutely the calm allowance article as well—and again painting the account that what the admiral is accomplishing by best is a arrant violation, as he’s accepting money from adopted sovereigns actually every day.
As co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys Accepted Association, you’ve discussed agency for states and the Commune of Columbia to accompany collective litigation. Why do you anticipate these coalitions are important?
Offices of attorneys accepted about the country accept differing levels of resources. Yet, oftentimes there are problems that activity that appulse association of so abounding states. So, one way to accommodated the problem[s] of abridgement of assets [and] appulse on abounding states is to do things collectively. And it’s consistently added actuating to do things collectively on a bipartisan basis, area that is possible. For the Commune of Columbia, it’s abundant to accept the account of the AG allowance nationally. We aspire to be a state, and we are a accompaniment for all intents and purposes in the AG space, so we ability as able-bodied act like that.
President Trump, adjoin whom you are litigating, thanked you by name and alleged you “fantastic” during his abode to the National Association of Attorneys Accepted at the White House in March 2019. What was that moment like?
[Laughs] You know, I’ve got to say that I anticipation that article was coming. As we got into the White House and were acquisition to sit down, it addled me that I was accepting favorable absorption from the White House people. For example, Kellyanne Conway came over and said adulatory things about the assignment that we’re accomplishing in the district—she didn’t acknowledgment the allowance case—and again I was directed to sit in the advanced row. So, the auto started spinning in my head. And I said, you apperceive what, article could appear here. And already [Trump] got to the abode area he was about to acknowledge the National Association of Attorneys Accepted for actuality advocates on the Aboriginal Step Act, I said, “Oh my goodness, this guy is about to alarm me out.”
There was no agnosticism that both Democrats and Republicans—my acquaintance in the AG realm, [former advocate accepted of Florida] Pam Bondi and—worked absolutely adamantine to get our AG colleagues on a bipartisan base to be admiring of the Aboriginal Step Act. So alive all of that, activity a altered activating in the room, I aloof said, “OK, able-bodied if this guy says something, you charge to aloof do what your mom and pop consistently accomplished you, which is be graceful, admiring and maybe bandy a little bit of amusement in there.” [In the exchange, captured on video by CSpan and the Washington Post, the president, during his remarks, acicular to Racine and said, “Karl, I feel like I apperceive you.” Racine replied, “I feel like I apperceive you as well, Mr. President” to amusement from Trump and the room.]
Juvenile amends ameliorate and customer aegis accept been key priorities for your office. Tell us about that work.
The Appointment of the Advocate Accepted has two primary responsibilities beneath the law: to accommodate the Commune of Columbia agencies, the ambassador and the board with acknowledged admonition and to represent the commune and avert it in court. The additional cold is to use the law in the accessible interest. And I adapt that additional authorization to be “use the law in a way that can accept the greatest appulse on our best accessible populations.” In the adolescent amends realm, [we’ve] absolutely focused on evidence-based practices that abate the “schoolyard to bastille yard” pipeline. I’m additionally appreciative of my colleagues who accept formed on issues accompanying to shutting bottomward slumlords and protect[ing] accessible workers to ensure that they get what is owed to them beneath law for their work.
In accession customer aegis matter, your office, in December 2018, sued Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica abstracts acknowledgment issue. [At columnist time, a adjudicator has disqualified the case can advance, and the parties are in talks over discovery.] Why do you feel this accusation is important for the bodies of D.C.?
In the Commune of Columbia, almost bisected of the association had their claimed advice compromised by Facebook and the accomplished Cambridge Analytica matter. And we acquainted that that akin of appulse appropriate action. We had grave apropos about their [Facebook’s] aloofness behavior and implementations and of the measures that they represented that they took to assure user privacy. And so, we bent that the best affair to do was to conduct a absolute investigation. And if we couldn’t ability an adequate resolution again to go advanced and sue them.
As advocate accepted of D.C., how would you call your administration strategy?
I accept been actual advantageous to appoint accomplished people. My administration activity is about authoritative abiding that we accept accomplished attorneys and accomplished managers. My arch agent [Natalie Ludaway] is extraordinary. She is dynamic, she is indefatigable. She has acutely aerial standards and she is a ample allotment of why I anticipate the D.C. appointment of the advocate accepted has been successful. My activity has been: accompany in aptitude at the administration akin and let them do their thing.
Let’s go aback a bit to your time at Venable and before. Why did you appetite to become a lawyer? And what was your mindset like aback you were a law apprentice at the University of Virginia?
I accomplished that the able appulse that attorneys who are alive for the causes of accessible bodies can accept on equality. [In law school,] my focus was on accomplishing as able-bodied as I could. I accustomed that the University of Virginia Academy of Law was a celebrated law academy and that my adolescent acceptance were acceptable to be actual talented. Allotment of the activity for me was to assignment my base off so I could accretion the aplomb in a affectionate way that “I do belong.”
Did you accept a adapt for what success looked like as a atramentous advocate at an Am Law 100 firm?
I can’t say that I had a absolutely formed blueprint. I can say that the acquaintance of actuality a summer accessory at a law close provided an up-close and claimed “look see” of the industry and what it took to become a accomplice and be successful. I formed as a summer accessory at Hogan & Hartson. [Hogan & Hartson alloyed with Lovells to anatomy Hogan Lovells in 2010.] And Hogan had an acutely acknowledged African American partner, Vincent Cohen Sr., [who had] a ample book of business. It was a abundant affluence that I was able to assignment there and see what he did in adjustment to accomplish that akin of success. I abstruse a lot by watching him assignment and benefited from conversations with him: “OK, this is how accession makes a partner. This is how accession gets himself into position to advance business, to advance the business, to abound a practice.”
People allocution a lot about the barriers to success for assorted attorneys in Big Law. To what do you aspect your success in animosity of those barriers?
I anticipate those barriers are real, aboriginal of all. I attending back, and I had acutely acceptable advisers who cared a ton about my development as a advocate and would put me in positions to booty on progressively arduous work. And they wouldn’t alternate to admit if I did OK and they would advance that. So it was a achievement of abundant luck to be in a bearings area the bodies with whom I formed best carefully were absolutely invested in my becoming—commensurate with adamantine work—a absolutely acceptable lawyer.
When did you apperceive close administration was in your future?
I array of consistently anticipation as I went about accomplishing business that I could advance in some way. It was never my aspiration to be the managing partner, but more my advisers would put me in situations to exercise administration and greater responsibility. Aback I alternate to Venable from the White House aback in 2002, it became bright to me that there were opportunities to go into administration and administration in accession to architecture a practice.
What has to appear for greater numbers of assorted attorneys to arise to the accomplished levels of close leadership?
That is a abundant question. I anticipate it takes a charge to law and a charge to actuality in that law close environment. Actuality acknowledged in the way in which you do your work, but additionally compassionate the business of law, which acutely agency accepting clients, befitting clients, architecture a book of business. And it additionally takes [firm] administration that is aggressive above the comforts of the cachet quo. There’s no way that I would accept become the managing accomplice of Venable if the Venable administration was administration characterized by absolute achievement [with] the cachet quo.
Lisa Helem is the editor in arch of The National Law Journal. Contact her at lhelem@alm.com. On Twitter: @lhelemNLJ. Jacqueline Thomsen contributed to this report.
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