Quick question about Cohen's attorney leaving the case

[RandySF]

Why would Cohen’s attorney walk away when the client has an opportunity to save himself?

[Mr. Ected]

1. Their services are no longer needed

He's expecting a pardon from Trump.

[safeinOhio]

2. Or they have not been paid.

[IggleDuer]

3. Most of the charges are expected to be NY State charges.

Mango Musselini cannot pardon there.

[Princess Turandot]

4. By 'saving himself', do you mean turning state's witness?

Here's abovethelaw.com's take:

https://abovethelaw.com/2018/06/report-mcdermott-will-emery-is-done-with-michael-cohen/

It’s certainly possible that Cohen is preparing to cooperate with investigators, and so a firm like McDermott Will & Emery is no longer needed. Cohen will still need a lawyer, even if he chooses to cooperate, but not one as expensive or august as the lawyers at MWE.

That’s actually the nicest possible spin on the move.

Another entirely possible scenario is that Cohen is broke and can no longer afford a prestigious firm like McDermott. I mean, it’s not like MWE is representing Cohen pro bono. The payment Cohen allegedly made to Stormy Daniels — for which he allegedly borrowed against his house to pay — is chump change compared to Cohen’s mounting legal bills. Remember, McDermott attorneys have had less than three months to review 3.7 million documents seized from Cohen’s offices. It’s doable, but very expensive. We’ve already seen the bills from Barbara Jones, the special master in charge of reviewing potentially privileged documents. I promise you MWE is not giving Cohen a discount.

Here’s another theory. It’s wishful thinking, but maybe McDermott is embarrassed and no longer wants to be associated with Trump world. Remember, Jones Day — the law firm most closely associated with Donald Trump’s shenanigans — has taken a massive reputational hit. The next generation of lawyers is watching, and being in charge of making bad legal arguments for a despised bigot who happens to be president is no fun.

His attorneys were complaining to the judge at the last hearing about how the document review was burning through $$$, because they had 15 people working on it around the clock to meet her short deadline. Maybe they've run through his retainer: he hired the two attorneys in mid-2017, before most of his crap broke, so perhaps they didn't know what was coming.

BTW, Above the Law and Bloomberg Law do an annual survey called the law firm power 100. The survey is based in part on the views of 'over 20,000 associates, partners, and other members of the legal community', as well as objective criteria. (It's apparently one of the sources used by top law school grads to decide whose offer to take.)

Jones Day, the prestigious firm that Don McGahn left to join Trump's team? It dropped 33 places on the survey from 2017 to 2018.