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The tight presidential race between Democratic challenger Joe Biden and Republican incumbent Donald Trump looks like it could end up in the courtroom.

The Trump campaign filed lawsuits on 4 November in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania over the counting of ballots, the start of what could be a prolonged legal brawl.

The close race, with neither side yet able to claim victory, could end up in the Supreme Court.The country's highest court determined the outcome of the 2000 election between George W Bush and Al Gore by ruling in Bushs favour.

Political law experts told Financial News that they expected to see ongoing legal challenges in states with close election counts over the next month.

Craig Engle, head of political law at Washington D.C. law firm Arent Fox, said he expected a messy state-by-state legal fight initially.

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"Things are going to play out slowly, and differently in each state with parties probably arguing contradictory points depending on the state."

Elliot Berke, a political and election law lawyer for Berke Farah in Washington D.C., said: "We will continue to see a barrage of legal challenges in four or five states at least up until the Electoral College delegations meet on 14 December."

Both sides have already spent millions on major international law firms throughout the campaign and could spend millions more before the election is settled.

Team Trump

The law firm most closely associated with the Trump presidency is US M&A and litigation powerhouse Jones Day. The firm has billed the Trump campaign more than $4.5m during the current election cycle, according to analysis of federal data by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Jones Day has received payments of $13.3m during the current election cycle, including $3.5m from the Republican National Committee and $1.6m from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the analysis shows.

Trump relied heavily on Jones Day for his 2016 campaign and appointed Jones Day partner Don McGahn as his top lawyer in the White House on his inauguration. McGahn in turn brought a string of Jones Day partners and lawyers into the administration.

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McGahn rejoined Jones Day in 2019 with reports that he had fallen out with Trump over his co-operation with The Mueller Report on the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election.

Federal records show that other major law firms used by the Trump campaign include King & Spalding and Winston & Strawn.

Team Biden

Biden has turned to Washington DC-headquartered law firm Covington & Burling to act as his campaign counsel. Covington has billed the Biden campaign more than $800,000 already this year, according to Federal filings.

The firm is home to former attorney general Eric Holder who re-joined as a partner after his six years in the Obama White House.

Covington fields a 15-strong election and political law group that advises political and corporate clients on lobbying, campaign finance and government ethics issues.

The firm had revenue of nearly $1.2bn in 2019 and profit per equity partner of $1.8m, according to Am Law data.

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Seattle, Washington, law firm Perkins Coie could also play a role in any upcoming election litigation thanks to its role as counsel to the Democratic National Convention.

The firms political law group includes more than 50 lawyers and advises a range of companies, trade unions, PACs and Super PACs on political issues.

Its former head Bob Bauer is acting as a senior legal advisor to Biden and was formerly White House counsel to Obama.

Perkins Coie had revenue of $934m last year and profit per equity partner of nearly $1.4m, Am Law data showed.

To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email James Booth

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These are the big law firms Trump and Biden could tap if the election ends up in court - Financial News