What Kind of Second Gentleman Would Doug Emhoff Be?

But the candidate’s husband, a partner at the law firm DLA Piper who specializes in media, sports and entertainment litigation, is certainly supportive. (He has taken a leave of absence from his job, apparently mindful about avoiding any possible conflicts of interest; the firm declined to comment.) Throwing himself with unabashed enthusiasm into the project, Mr. Emhoff has produced a stream of social media posts following one basic theme: I love this woman. “I’ve got you. As always,” he tweeted last December, when she dropped out of the presidential race, over a photo of Ms. Harris sitting in his lap under a “Kamala Harris for the People” poster, his arms wrapped around her as she leaned back against him.

“I think he is having a good time,” said Aaron H. Jacoby, an old friend and former law partner of Mr. Emhoff. Mr. Emhoff’s enthusiastic befriending of other candidates’ spouses in the primaries was consistent with his friendly, engaging approach to making contacts and building his law practice, said Mr. Jacoby, now managing partner for the Los Angeles office of Arent Fox.

Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Emhoff moved to California with his parents when he was a teenager and has remained there ever since. (He says “awesome” a lot in interviews.) He went to California State University, Northridge, and got his law degree from University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

Mr. Jacoby recalled when he and Mr. Emhoff were young corporate lawyers, ready to open their new firm together in Los Angeles. (The firm was called Whitwell Jacoby Emhoff, and it went on to become an arm of the larger firm Venable.) “We had the usual start-up needs, including choosing art to make us look ‘important’ and serious,” he said. Mr. Jacoby and their third partner, Ben Whitwell, favored using the Los Angeles County Museum lending program to procure big-ticket pieces, but Mr. Emhoff argued for the abstract impressionist work of his father, who had retired and taken up amateur painting.

“Doug insisted on his dad’s painting for our office,” Mr. Jacoby said. “Doug won.” (The paintings were actually very nice, Mr. Jacoby added.)

Mr. Emhoff supported Mr. Jacoby through his divorce — and then Mr. Jacoby did the same when Mr. Emhoff divorced his first wife, Kerstin Emhoff, the co-founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles production company Prettybird.