Matt Mullenweg Hires New Lawyers in Fight Against WP Engine

A legal document filed in federal court formally notifies that Automattic and Matt Mullenweg have added new representation, an attorney who previously represented Meta and Facebook. The new documentation is formally called NOTICE of Appearance. A subsequent legal filing indicates that the new representation is currently handling the response to a Motion to intervene presented by a third party that is not connected to WP Engine.

The legal document that was presented (PDF version here) is entitled STATEMENT OF ROSEMARIE T. RING IN SUPPORT OF THE JOINT STIPULATION AND (PROPOSED) ORDER ON THE INFORMATION CALENDAR.

Screenshot of the newly submitted legal document

The document presented to the court says:

I, Rosemarie T. Ring, declare the following:
1. I am a member in good standing of the California Bar and admitted to practice before this Court. I am a partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher LLP, which has been retained by Defendants Automattic Inc. and Matthew Charles Mullenweg (collectively, “Defendants”) to represent them in the above action. I submit this statement in support of the Joint Stipulation filed while requesting an extension of time to file responses and replies to the Motion to Intervene (Dkt. 70) and the Motion to Contempt (Dkt. 71) (collectively, “Motions” ) presented. by non-party Michael Willman on January 13, 2025.

Documentation presented to the court

The Court Listener website has three entries:

“77 January 24, 2025
NOTICE of Appearance filed by Rosemarie Theresa Ring on behalf of Automattic Inc., Matthew Charles Mullenweg (Ring, Rosemarie) (Filed: 01/24/2025) (Entered: 01/24/2025)

January 24, 2025
Notice of appearance/substitution/change/withdrawal of lawyer”

Screenshot of the list of new documents filed in the WP Engine lawsuit

New lawyer

A legal form titled “NOTICE of Appearance filed by Rosemarie Theresa Ring on behalf of Automattic” was filed. Rosemarie Theresa Ring is an attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, one of the largest law firms in the United States.

Gibson Dunn was founded in 1890 and has represented George W. Bush in the Bush v. Gore legal fight for votes in Florida, Apple, Inc. in an infringement lawsuit against Samsung, and has also represented Meta and Facebook.

The law firm that has represented Automattic and Matt Mullenweg in their defense in the WP Engine federal lawsuit is Hogan Lovells US LLP.

What does it mean?

It is unclear whether previous legal representation still represents Automattic and Matt Mullenweg as part of its legal team as defendants in the WP Engine lawsuit. So far the new representation has filed responses related to the motion to intervene, indicating that the defendants have significantly strengthened their legal representation.