One of the country’s leading consumer protection organizations released a report today revealing a “shady lawyer pipeline” in which politicians grant lucrative public contracts to trial lawyers, who then contribute millions of dollars to liberal political campaigns, including $1.4 million to the Harris-Walz campaign in 2024.
The report, published by the Alliance for Consumers (AFC), highlights the strong Democratic ties of eight major consumer protection law firms—Morgan & Morgan, Lieff Cabraser, Motley Rice, Baron & Budd, Grant & Eisenhofer, Berger Montague, Cohen Milstein, and Simmons Hanly—which it refers to as the “shady eight.” According to AFC, these firms hold profitable public contracts nationwide and have contributed approximately $25 million in political donations from 2017 to 2024, Fox News reported.
In 2024, the firms donated a total of $4 million to political campaigns, with 99% of this amount directed toward Democrat candidates or Democrat-aligned committees.In short, it is a money pipeline whereby local Democratic leaders funnel money to leftist law firms that, in turn, funnel a portion back to the Democrats, as many conservatives have long suspected.
During the 2024 presidential election, the firms contributed $1.4 million to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. The “shady eight” also focused heavily on midterm Senate races, with the report revealing that Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and former Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bob Casey, D-Penn., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., received the largest contributions after Harris. Five of the firms—Lieff Cabraser, Motley Rice, Grant & Eisenhofer, Simmons Hanly, and Baron & Budd—demonstrated a 100% commitment to Democrats and their allies, contributing over $2.5 million in federal donations in 2024.
“The consumer should never be on the losing side of a left-wing political money game like what is on display in the Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline,” AFC says in its report. “This partisan political giving is supported by money from public contracts signed by politicians and public officials; money that belongs to the taxpayers and consumers.”
AFC said “the ‘Shady Eight’ are stark examples—although far from the only ones—of how the Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline works, with politicians feeding sweetheart contracts to trial lawyers who give 99% of their political donations to liberals and will happily turn around and pump millions of dollars into left-leaning candidates, committees, and allied organizations.”
O.H. Skinner, executive director of the Alliance for Consumers, told Fox News Digital that the report “shows how left-wing trial lawyers have turned consumer protection efforts into a political game.” He said states should quickly move to end their contracts with these “shady” law firms.
“The contracts that states have with these firms make some sense if the goal is funding left-wing political campaigns, but, for many reasons, they are exactly the wrong way to protect consumers,” he said. “Ending the Shady Trial Lawyer Pipeline is one of the strongest steps public officials can take to protect consumers and the rule of law.”
