Paul, Weiss was I think the first major law firm to knuckle under to the Trump regime's threats. Click here for an article at The New York Times entitled "Rivals Pounce on Paul Weiss, a Top Law Firm, After Trump’s Order," subtitled "Fears that competitors could take its top rainmaking talent added to the law firm’s worries about a Trump executive order that targeted it."
It says: "President Trump’s executive order attacking Paul Weiss and severely restricting that law firm’s ability to represent its clients was widely seen by lawyers as a dangerous affront to the nation’s legal system."
The executive order "restricted the firm’s lawyers from dealing with the government, including entering federal buildings. The order also said companies doing business with Paul Weiss, which has deep ties to the Democratic Party and its causes, could lose their government contracts."
Click here for another article at The Times with more detail on the deal, entitled "How a Major Democratic Law Firm Ended Up Bowing to Trump."
And click here for the text of the email, in an article at Business Insider entitled "Read the email Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp sent to staff after striking a deal with Trump: 'Clients perceived our firm as being persona non grata.'" Karp "has faced a barrage of public condemnation for making the deal, and many critics said it would only embolden the president to seek retribution against more law firms. Some of the criticism came from a group of roughly 140 Paul Weiss alumni who signed a letter to Mr. Karp, calling the decision to settle 'cowardly.'”
“It is a permanent stain on the face of a great firm that sought to gain a profit by forfeiting its soul,” the lawyers wrote in the letter, which was released publicly by Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog.
Rival law firms, such as Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis, "pounced" on Paul, Weiss, trying to entice its lawyers (with their lucrative client lists) to jump ship. How big is Paul, Weiss? "Top performers at big firms can take home more than $20 million a year. At Paul Weiss, which operates around the world and employs more than 2,000 people, the corporate practice is now the main source of revenue. The firm took in about $2.6 billion in total revenue in 2024, up from about $2 billion the year before."
Skadden, Arps is the latest giant law firm to cave to Trump's threats. Click here for an article at Business Insider entitled "Skadden made a deal with Trump. Associates on the inside say they're worried it's the beginning of the end for the firm."
Here's the resignation letter of Skadden, Arps attorney Brenna Trout Frey:
"Today the executive partner of my former firm sent us all an 'update' that attempted to convince some of the best minds in the legal profession that he did us a solid by capitulating to the Trump administration's demands for fealty and protection money. Fellow Skadden attorneys: If you agree with Jeremy London's position that the firm should not engage in 'illegal DEI discrimination,' should devote prestigious Skadden Fellows to the Trump administration's pet projects, and should help 'politically disenfranchised groups who have not historically received legal representation from major national firms,' (taking into account the robust pro bono work that major national law firms already do), then by all means continue working there. But if that email struck you as a craven attempt to sacrifice the rule of law for self-preservation, I hope you do some soul-searching over the weekend and join me in sending a message that this is unacceptable (in whatever way you can). As one of my more eloquent former colleagues put it: 'Do not pretend that what is happening is normal or excusable. It isn't.'
There is only one acceptable response from attorneys to the Trump administration's demands: The rule of law matters.
The rule of law matters. As an attorney, if my employer cannot stand up for the rule of law, then I cannot ethically continue to work for them."
Trump has recently issued yet another order, this time targeting Jenner & Block. "In a statement announcing the order, the White House said, “President Trump is delivering on his promise to end the weaponization of government.”
Ending the weaponization of government! Wonderful, right?
Right?