KC lawyer represents Trump on New York rape claims

Brandt

A prominent Kansas City lawyer is helping represent former President Donald Trump in a high-profile case about to go to trial in New York.

W. Perry Brandt entered his appearance on April 20 on behalf of Trump in a lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll that alleges the former president raped her in the dressing room of a New York City department store in the mid-1990s. The suit, pending in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, brings a claim for battery as well as for defamation, alleging that Trump made false and insulting statements about her when she aired her allegations in 2019. Trump has denied the claims.

Brandt did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment, and it was not clear how he came to be involved with the case. His typical practice includes securities litigation, corporate internal investigations and class-action lawsuits as well as mediation and arbitration.

Brandt joined Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard earlier this year as senior counsel in the firm’s Kansas City office. He previously was with Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, where he had served as managing partner of that firm’s Kansas City office from 2014 to 2018.

However, Brandt did not list Sandberg Phoenix or use his firm phone number or email address in an affidavit submitted with his request for pro hac vice admission. Sandberg Phoenix didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brandt is a past president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and was a member of The Missouri Bar Board of Governors from 2015 to 2019. He is working with attorneys from the law firm Tacopina, Siegel & DeOreo in New York in representing Trump.

The case is Carroll v. Trump, 1:22-cv-10016.