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Drew Findling stepped out of his black Mercedes-Benz on a sticky recent morning in North Atlanta, wearing black shorts, a black shirt, black shoes, a black hat, and black shades. He was preparing to go for a run. “I can run any pace you want,” he said, “unless you’re trying to break the 10K record.” Findling, who is sixty-three, belongs to the Athletics Hall of Fame at nearby Oglethorpe University, where, he said, he once clocked a 4:37 mile during a cross-country race. But he’s better known as the man representing Donald Trump as he faces likely charges of election interference in Georgia, and as the #BillionDollarLawyer. The late Young Dolph, one of Findling’s many hip-hop clients, bestowed the nickname in 2017, after he’d summoned Findling to meet him at a hospital. “A security guard is pushing Dolph in his wheelchair,” Findling recalled. “I’m, like, why am I here? Then Dolph slowly gets up, and he’s, like, ‘I got shot, but I’m dropping my album at midnight tonight, and I got my billion-dollar lawyer.’ ” Dolph posted a video of the exchange on social media. Findling’s kids thought it was cool.
Like Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka, and Offset—who has called Findling “the biggest lawyer in the game”—Trump took note. He hired Findling last August, expecting an indictment. Reports have suggested that one could be issued soon. Last week, barricades appeared outside the Fulton County Courthouse. Findling is a liberal—longish hair, beard, a fondness for seventies soul—who, in 2018, tweeted that Trump was “racist” and “pathetic once again.” But, when the former President’s people called, Findling thought, What would John Adams do? “He defended British soldiers after the Boston Massacre,” Findling said, as he set off on a five-miler around a city park. “Once you start discriminating, the dominoes fall.”
Findling waved as he passed a few Jehovah’s Witnesses handing out pamphlets. Then his phone pinged. “Hey comma,” Findling dictated, without breaking stride. “In a meeting comma. Let me call you in a couple hours. Period.” Afterward, he said, “I also return phone calls when I run. I think it’s a great time to return calls.” Not everyone agrees. “One of my closest friends, if he hears me breathing hard, he goes, ‘No. You’re not doing this to me.’ My daughter says, ‘Daddy, you’re using me.’ ” Findling went on, “I’ll also dictate and draft. Or I’ll just enjoy the silence.”
A small hill appeared. “Tough section coming up,” he said, dodging a woman with three dogs. Near the top, two older men heading in the other direction recognized Findling; one of them was a trial lawyer. “How you doing, man!” the lawyer said. “You’re in town for a change.” Sweaty small talk ensued. “Good luck,” the lawyer said as they parted. “I’ll probably see you in the case. I have somebody, too.” He meant the Trump case, Findling confirmed moments later. “Everybody has got somebody.”
Checking the pace—just under ten minutes per mile—Findling returned to his first love. “I was definitely a self-identified runner,” he said. “I was always wearing my Dolfin shorts around campus in college. I was a maniac—on Sunday mornings, I got up and ran.” Running prepares him for lawyering. “Trying a case the right way is a physical activity,” he said. “I tell lawyers all the time that if you’re digging in for a three-hour cross-examination on a case you’ve spent years working on, you’ve gotta be hydrated and think about the athletic position”—leaning forward, knees slightly bent, looking straight ahead. “You’ve gotta be on top of your game.”
As he started lap two, Findling got quiet. “Maybe we walk it out from here,” he said at the top of the hill. After catching his breath, he began talking about a favorite client, the rapper Cardi B. “She’s like a daughter to me,” he said. “She did a verse about me. It’s terrible, but it’s funny as shit.” The verse: “Lawyer is a Jew, he gon chew up all the charges.” Cardi B wrote it in Sharpie on a New York Post article featuring a photo of them, which Findling framed and hung in his office.
“I don’t know if you’re a student of history,” Findling went on, “but Cardi will take you on. The Ottoman Empire—she’ll get you. She’ll talk to you about Pearl Harbor and how there should never have been shock and awe. She’ll talk about Churchill—but she’ll never say ‘Churchill.’ She just talks about ‘the fat bald guy.’ ” He continued, “She and I were at some event once and she was talking about the Royal Family, and I go, ‘Cardi, stop. You’re full of shit. You’re just rehashing Season 3 of ‘The Crown.’ She goes”—Findling’s voice softened—“ ‘You got me, Drew.’ ”
What did Cardi B think of her lawyer representing Donald Trump? Findling considered the question for a while. “She’s supportive of me,” he said. “I bet she knows about John Adams, too.” (A rep for Cardi B said, “She gave him shit about it, though.”) ♦
An earlier version of this article’s headline mischaracterized Drew Findling’s nickname.
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