- A law firm hired by Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue Google has a long history of supporting woke causes, including helping a six-year-old boy who identified as a girl gain access to the girls’ bathroom at his elementary school
- Norton Rose Fulbright has donated tens of thousands of dollars to liberal Democrats, including anti-Trump Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee
- Other state agencies have hired Norton Rose Fulbright at much cheaper hourly rates than the rates charged by the firm in its contract with the Office of the Attorney General
A law firm hired by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to that stands to earn a hefty payday as a result of a $1.375 billion settlement with Google has a long history of supporting woke causes and making donations to some of the most liberal Democrats in Texas.
Paxton retained the Norton Rose Fulbright law firm in 2022 to sue Google on behalf of the State of Texas in two separate lawsuits – one involving Google’s use of geolocation data and another involving biometric data. Last week, Paxton’s office announced that a $1.375 billion settlement had been reached with Google to resolve these lawsuits.
Norton Rose Fulbright has a lengthy track record of promoting a woke agenda.
As part of its pro bono legal efforts, Norton Rose Fulbright promotes its work with the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF). This work included helping a biologically male six-year-old elementary school student who identified as a girl to obtain access to the girls’ bathroom at his school.
“We have worked closely with the TLDEF for the successful resolution of several high-profile lawsuits filed by transgender individuals who faced discriminatory actions. Among them are the cases of Chase Culpepper, who was forced to remove her makeup before she was allowed to take her first driver’s license photo in South Carolina because her gender marker indicated she was a male, and Coy Mathis, who was denied access to the female restrooms at her elementary school because although she lived as a female, she was born a male,” reads a section of Norton Rose Fulbright’s website about the firm’s pro bono work.
Other areas where Norton Rose Fulbright says it has been engaged in pro bono legal work include “asylum cases”, “justice and stability for immigrant youth”, and “death penalty defense.”
Norton Rose Fulbright’s website also highlights its commitment to “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion,” with a particular emphasis on racial justice.
“Injustice and trauma caused by systemic racism remain prevalent, which is why our work toward justice and racial equity remains a priority all year round. Many of our regions have worked to develop strategic priorities anchored to accountability and a commitment to effect real and sustainable change in racial equity and improve ethnic and cultural diversity by increasing representation at all levels, ensuring inclusion and addressing and eliminating unconscious bias,” says the firm.
In 2021, Norton Rose Fulbright focused the firm’s “Global Charitable Initiative” on “fighting systemic racism and championing social justice worldwide.”
“I would like 2021 to be remembered as a year of action by the whole firm, uniting to use our time and our talents and our passion to fight racism and champion social justice. Our aim is that this initiative will leave a lasting legacy, inspiring our people to support antiracism and social justice causes and to commit to antiracism and social justice volunteering, fundraising and pro bono activities in their local communities,” said Shauna Clark, who was Norton Rose Fulbright’s US and Global Chair at the time.
In another section of the firm’s website that discusses its initiatives to support the “LGBTIQ+” community, the firm outlines how it “encourages and supports” its employees to display preferred pronouns along with their name.
“Encouraging and supporting people to add their pronouns wherever their name is displayed. Not everyone’s gender is visibly obvious and some people choose to introduce themselves using their pronouns in order to avoid being misgendered. This creates an environment where people who may be trans, gender diverse or non-binary, can safely express how they wish to be addressed.”
Norton Rose Fulbright also embraces Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.
“Norton Rose Fulbright is committed to operating sustainably and taking direct action to support United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13: Action on Climate Change. Climate action sits alongside our other strategic priorities that advance sustainable development, including diversity, equity and inclusion and social impact. It is managed by a global Environmental Sustainability Committee, reporting directly to our Global Executive Committee,” said the firm.
Some of the most liberal Democrats in Texas have received political contributions from Norton Rose Fulbright. Since last year, the Norton Rose Fulbright political action committee has donated $10,000 to Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, $10,000 to Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia, $5,000 to Houston City Controller Chris Hollins, and $10,000 to Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who is running to succeed the late Sylvester Turner in Congressional District 18, received $5,000 from the Norton Rose Fulbright PAC last year. Menefee is an outspoken critic of President Trump and has been involved in multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration.
Instead of handling the lawsuits internally within the Office of the Attorney General or hiring outside counsel on a traditional hourly-fee arrangement, Paxton hired Norton Rose Fulbright on a contingent-fee contract. This meant that while Norton Rose Fulbright risked not getting paid if the litigation was not successful, it stood to earn a much larger fee in the event of a successful recovery.
Under its contract with the Office of the Attorney General, Norton Rose Fulbright will be compensated under the lesser of 27% of the recovery in the geolocation data lawsuit and 18% of the recovery in the biometrics lawsuit or on a formula based on the base hourly fee of the attorney or paralegal that works on a particular task, multiplied by four.
With partner-level attorneys charging base fees of $945 per hour, Norton Rose Fulbright stands to be paid as much as $3,780 per hour for work performed by the firm. While the exact amount billed by Norton Rose Fulbright in the Google litigation is not yet known, it is likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
This arrangement is similar to the contracts with the outside law firms hired by Paxton in litigation against Meta. Those law firms billed taxpayers nearly $136 million in fees for their work in the Meta litigation. Billing entries in the Meta litigation included $43,092 for a partner-level attorney to review a deposition transcript and prepare a memo summarizing it and $960 for a paralegal to spend 1.2 hours reviewing Black’s Law Dictionary.
The base hourly rates in Norton Rose Fulbright’s contracts with the Office of the Attorney General for senior-level attorneys are significantly higher than those charged by the firm in contracts with other state agencies.
A 2024 contract between Norton Rose Fulbright and the State Comptroller’s office set attorney billing rates at $595 per hour. In 2022, the Texas Education Agency hired Norton Rose Fulbright under a contract that capped attorney billing rates at $525 per hour.
For years, the Office of the Attorney General had generally avoided hiring outside lawyers on a contingent-fee basis after misconduct by former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales in connection with the State’s tobacco settlement in the 1990s landed him in federal prison.
All that changed in 2020 after many members of Paxton’s senior staff either resigned or were fired after voicing concerns about potential impropriety by Paxton. Jeff Mateer, who had served as Paxton’s top deputy, told the Associated Press in 2021 that the Office of the Attorney General had planned to pursue an antitrust lawsuit against Google internally and did not require the assistance of outside counsel.
After the mass exodus of senior staff, Paxton hired two outside law firms to sue Google. That antitrust lawsuit is unrelated to the recently settled lawsuits against Google, where Paxton retained Norton Rose Fulbright. Since then, Paxton has retained several other outside law firms on a contingent-fee basis to represent the State in various matters.
The increasing reliance by Paxton on outside counsel contracts, especially as it relates to the settlement with Google, has drawn the ire of some conservatives.
“Paxton’s cronyism drove out conservative talent from his office, leaving him reliant on pricey, pay-to-play Democrats. That $1.3 billion settlement breaks down to just $43 per Texan—far less than our data’s worth—and now benefits the very trial lawyers he hired and the progressive causes they bankroll,” said conservative commentator Garrett Fulce, who has also served as a delegate to Republican Party of Texas state conventions.
