(Reuters) - If Kamala Harris becomes vice-president, her husband Douglas Emhoff stands to make history.

Not just because he'd be the first-ever second gentleman, as well as the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice-president. Emhoff would also be the first Big Law partner in the innermost circle of the executive branch.

True, both Barack and Michelle Obama worked briefly at Sidley Austin in Chicago — it's where they met. Neither stuck around long enough to climb the ranks though. (The 44th president flitted through as a summer associate in 1989.)

But Emhoff, who did not respond to an interview request, has rock-solid Big Law bona fides.

A media, sports and entertainment litigator, he joined 4,200-lawyer DLA Piper as a partner in Los Angeles in 2017. "Doug has served as litigation counsel and trusted advisor for some of the biggest names in Hollywood and across the entertainment, media and sports spectrum," Roger Meltzer, DLA's global co-chairman, said in a news release at the time.

A firm spokesman declined further comment.

Emhoff lateraled from Venable, where he was a partner for 11 years. He was managing director of the firm's West Coast offices and a key player in growing its California footprint.

A University of Southern California Gould School of Law graduate, he also did stints as an associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and now-defunct Bingham McCutchen.

Emhoff and Harris married in 2014. He has two adult children from his previous marriage.

Venable partner Alex Weingarten said Emhoff recruited him to join Venable in Los Angeles — and counts him as a friend.

He describes Emhoff as a smart and strategic lawyer. "Doug is very good at seeing all the moves on the chessboard, and thinking several moves ahead," Weingarten said.

But Emhoff's true gift may be his people skills.

"He's really good with people. He's good at reading people, good at negotiating, good at management," Weingarten said. "He's a mensch — one of those guys everyone likes. He's the host of the party making sure everyone is having a good time."

Weingarten's description reminds me of another Big Law attorney who embraced his wife's accomplishments — the late Martin Ginsburg, husband of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

An esteemed tax expert, law professor and of counsel at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, Ginsburg (who died in 2010) seemed to recognize people would inevitably see him in connection with his more prominent wife.

Consider his Fried Frank law firm bio. It stated that Ginsburg "moved to Georgetown University in 1980 when his wife obtained a good job in Washington" and also that "Professor Ginsburg's spouse was a lawyer before she found better work."

As the documentary "RBG" made clear, he was not threatened by his wife's success — rather, he helped her achieve it and celebrated it.

Based on Emhoff's campaign appearances and Twitter feed —which is focused on promoting his wife's political career and also includes multiple photos of him decked out in "Kamala" t-shirts — he seems be cut from the same cloth.

When Harris was announced as Joe Biden's pick for VP on August 11, Emhoff tweeted to Jill Biden "Ready to work! Let's go".

Still, there's no question he's an accomplished lawyer in his own right.

Filings in PACER indicate he has a wide-ranging practice combining entertainment, intellectual property and commercial litigation.

For example, he represented the makers of the movie "American Made" starring Tom Cruise in insurance coverage litigation stemming from a fatal plane crash on set. The 2015 crash in South America killed two pilots who were working on the film. A federal judge in Los Angeles sided with Emhoff, rebuffing the insurer's bid for declaratory relief regarding its coverage obligations based on jurisdictional grounds.

Emhoff was also tapped to help defend National Football League wide receiver Willie Gault, who was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for his alleged role in a fraudulent scheme to inflate the stock price of a heart monitoring device company. In 2016, a federal judge ordered Gault to pay $206,571 and banned him from serving as an officer or director of a public company. The penalty was upheld on appeal.

Another interesting matter involved defending Stockbridge/SBE Holdings, which owns the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The company was sued by Otis Williams, the only remaining original member of Motown group The Temptations, for trademark infringement.

Williams objected that the Sahara's Congo Room show featured a group called "Legendary Lead Singers of The Temptations." Emhoff's client settled on confidential terms in 2009 without admitting wrongdoing.

It's not clear if Emhoff would continue to practice law at DLA Piper (which had profits per equity partner of $1.95 million last year, according to The American Lawyer) if Harris becomes vice-president. Jill Biden continued to teach English at a community college when her husband was VP.

In March, when Harris was still running for president, Emhoff told The Hollywood Reporter that "With all this other stuff that's happening in my life right now, it's great to have [my practice,] because it's something that I love and I'm good at."