A team from Jenner & Block is fighting attempts by the U.S. Justice Department and a military judge to force two civilian lawyers to continue to represent the alleged bombing mastermind of the USS Cole warship after discovering what they contend was government monitoring of their attorney-client conversations.

The dispute recently reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The Jenner & Block team, led by partner Matthew Hellman, co-chairman of the firm’s appellate and Supreme Court practice, asked a three-judge panel to order the government to allow Mary Spears and Rosa Eliades to intervene in proceedings before the U.S. Court of Military Commissions Review.