Biglaw Partner Neal Katyal Escapes Burning Man, Avoids Trench Foot

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Neal Katyal via X https://twitter.com/neal_katyal

If you gave me a million guesses, I don’t think I would come up with a story about former acting Solicitor General/current Hogan Lovells partner Neal Katyal, Burning Man, and trench foot… but here we are. I guess I have to dream bigger.

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Anyway, the backdrop to the story is the deadly mud at this year’s Burning Man. The annual festival was mired by heavy rain that turned the dried lake basin into a thick, slimy mud that stranded over 70,000 people as the roads were closed to vehicles.

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But some concert goers *had* to get gone before the roads officially reopened. Diplo and Chris Rock famously hitchhiked their way out of the muck. Katyal attended the festival for the first time this year, and had to hike his way out of the concert and back to the life of a Biglaw partner.

It was an incredibly harrowing 6 mile hike at midnight through heavy and slippery mud, but I got safely out of Burning Man. Never been before and it was fantastic (with brilliant art and fabulous music)…except the ending. pic.twitter.com/jhxsOfNp5y

— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 3, 2023

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For the record, given his billable rate, that was a $7,500 mud run.

He also shared some advice for others considering the hike. And one suggestion — that hikers don plastic bags on their feet to avoid getting soaked as they wade through the mud — got a lot of attention.

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One other thing: if someone you know is hiking, they need to prepare their boots. Plastic bag on your bare foot, then sock over it, then put boot or shoe on. There are lots of places where you sink into the mud down to your ankle. You need the plastic bag to avoid being soaked

— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 3, 2023

As Katyal later acknowledged, continuous exposure to the moisture trapping plastic bag has the potential to create the conditions that create trench and immersion foot syndromes — a fact other users were quick to point out. Although one would hope the walk out of Burning Man would take less time than the Battle of Somme, minimizing the trench foot risk. But we are, in fact, talking about trench foot at a music festival in the year of our lord 2023.

Regardless, Katyal clarified he was merely passing on the information relayed to him by park rangers. Which is a fair reminder Katyal is your expert source for how to own Supreme Court justices, not for preventing the scourge of World War 1.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].

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Biglaw, Burning man, Hogan Lovells, Neal Katyal, Partner Issues, World War One