Who Is Joanna Hendon? Trump's New Lawyer Appears at Michael Cohen Hearing

By Greg Price, Newsweek

18 April 18

 

fter weeks of news about President Donald Trump's difficulties in securing new legal help, he was represented in Manhattan federal court by a new lawyer.

Joanna C. Hendon, a partner at New York–based firm Spears & Imes, appeared on the president’s behalf in federal court Friday morning at a hearing concerning Trump’s other personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen sought to restrain the government from using materials obtained in a raid of his residence and office Monday.

The president has had trouble securing attorneys to represent him in relation to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Last month, attorney John Dowd resigned from Trump’s legal team, reportedly due to his belief that the president was no longer heeding his advice. Dowd was firmly against Trump sitting down with Mueller’s team for an interview.

Hendon is so far only known to be representing Trump in the matter involving Cohen.

Hendon argued Friday at the U.S. Southern District Court of New York that she needed more time to review the government’s arguments about its use of records obtained from the Cohen raids and the case in general. Her argument was rooted in proper attorney-client privilege and the fact that Trump is commander in chief.

"He is the president of the United States," Hendon said. "Ultimately, in my view, this is of most concern to him. The public is a close second. And anyone who has ever hired a lawyer is the third,” Hendon argued before U.S. District Court Judge Kimba M. Wood.

Trump's lawyer:

"He is the president of the United States," she says. "Ultimately, in my view, this is of most concern to him. The public is a close second. And anyone who has ever hired a lawyer is the third."

— erica orden (@eorden) April 13, 2018

Hendon also argued she was not trying to delay the proceeding and that all parties would benefit if the case was handled “scrupulously.”

Trump's lawyer in this matter is Joanna Hendon. "The evidence is locked down. I'm not trying to delay...We have an interest in it being done scrupulously," she says of the review of atty-client privilege issues.

— erica orden (@eorden) April 13, 2018

She also told the court her firm was engaged with the case on Wednesday.

Her personal page on her firm’s website crashed as word spread of her representing Trump.

Hendon graduated Yale Law School in 1991 and was former assistant U.S. attorney at the Southern District from 1995 to 2001. She specializes in civil litigation and criminal defense.

The president is still represented by attorneys Jay Sekulow and Ty Cobb in the Mueller investigation.