Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice
Written by David Enrich
Narrated by Will Collyer
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
From the New York Times’s Business Investigations Editor and #1 bestselling author of Dark Towers comes a long-overdue exposé of the astonishing yet shadowy power wielded by the world’s largest law firms, following the narrative arc of Jones Day, the firm that represented the Trump campaign and much of the Fortune 500, as a powerful encapsulation of the changes that have swept the legal industry in recent decades.
In his acclaimed #1 bestseller Dark Towers, David Enrich presented the never-before-told saga of how Deutsche Bank became the global face of financial recklessness and criminality. Now Enrich turns his eye towards the world of “Big Law” and the nearly unchecked influence these firms wield to shield the wealthy and powerful—and bury their secrets. To tell this story, Enrich focuses on Jones Day, one of the world’s largest law firms. Jones Day’s narrative arc—founded in Cleveland in 1893, it became the first law firm to expand nationally and is now a global juggernaut with deep ties to corporate interests and conservative politics—is a powerful encapsulation of the changes that have swept the legal industry in recent decades.
Since 2016, Jones Day has been in the spotlight for representing Donald Trump and his campaigns (and now his PACs)—and for the fleet of Jones Day attorneys who joined his administration, including White House Counsel Don McGahn. Jones Day helped Trump fend off the Mueller investigation and challenged Obamacare. Its once and future lawyers defended Trump’s Muslim ban and border policies and handled his judicial nominations. Jones Day even laid some of the legal groundwork for Trump to challenge the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
But the Trump work is but one chapter in the firm’s checkered history. Jones Day, like many of its peers, have become highly effective enablers of the business world’s worst misbehavior. The firm has for decades represented Big Tobacco in its fight to avoid liability for its products. Jones Day worked tirelessly for the Catholic Church as it tried to minimize its sexual-abuse scandals. And for Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, as it sought to protect its right to make and market its dangerously addictive drug. And for Fox News as it waged war against employees who were the victims of sexual harassment and retaliation. And for Russian oligarchs as their companies sought to expand internationally.
In this gripping and revealing new work of narrative nonfiction, Enrich makes the compelling central argument that law firms like Jones Day play a crucial yet largely hidden role in enabling and protecting powerful bad actors in our society, housing their darkest secrets, and earning billions in revenue for themselves.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
David Enrich
David Enrich is the Business Investigations Editor at the New York Times and the #1 bestselling author of Dark Towers. He previously was an editor and reporter at the Wall Street Journal. He has won numerous journalism awards, including the 2016 Gerald Loeb Award for feature writing. His first book, The Spider Network: How a Math Genius and Gang of Scheming Bankers Pulled Off One of the Greatest Scams in History, was short-listed for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year award. Enrich grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, and graduated from Claremont McKenna Collee in California. He currently lives in New York with his wife and two sons.
More audiobooks from David Enrich
Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Servants of the Damned
Related audiobooks
The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court's Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Supreme Ambition: Brett Kavanaugh and the Conservative Takeover Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here, Right Matters: An American Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute ExecutivesWhite Collar Criminals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Confirmation Bias: Inside Washington's War Over the Supreme Court, from Scalia's Death to Justice Kavanaugh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Final Days Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Demagogue's Playbook: The Battle for American Democracy from the Founders to Trump Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Breach: The Untold Story of the Investigation into January 6th Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of “The Big Lie” Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor’s Code and Corrupted the Justice Department Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Politics For You
Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An American Marriage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Mercies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of the Wreckage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Servants of the Damned
12 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One doesn’t need to be a lawyer to comprehend that Jones Day is everything bad about the legal profession. And I’m a lawyer. Too many miserable Federalist Society scum there who don’t believe in the rule of law. And it goes way beyond what they did for Trump. They should be ashamed and this book paints an portrait of what should be their shame. If they had any.