Trump: Firms are going to do a fantastic job
Five more leading law firms – including Anglo-American giant A&O Shearman – struck deals with President Donald Trump this weekend to avoid being targeted by punitive executive orders.
Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Latham & Watkins – along with A&O Sherman – have each agreed to provide $125m (£96m) in pro bono and other free legal services “to causes that President Trump and the law firms both support and agree to work on”.
Separately, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft agreed to provide $100m of services.
Four other firms have already cut similar deals in recent weeks: Milbank, Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Skadden each agreed to provide $100m of services, while the first – Paul Weiss – got away with $40m.
This means law firms have so far committed $940m towards pro bono work.
President Trump was reported to have told coal miners at a White House event last week that he would direct the law firms that had reached agreement to help the coal industry with leasing and use them to negotiate tariffs.
According to Law360, he said: “Have you noticed a lot of law firms have been signing up with Trump? A hundred million dollars, another $100 million, for damages that they’ve done.
“But they give you $100 million, and then they announce that, ‘But we have done nothing wrong’. And I agree, they’ve done nothing wrong, but what the hell, they give me a lot of money considering they’ve done nothing wrong.
“We’ll use some of those people. We’re going to use some of those firms to work with you on your leasing and your other things. I think they’re going to do a fantastic job.”
The terms of the latest deals are the same for each one, including a commitment to take on “a wide range of pro bono matters that represent the full political spectrum, including Conservative ideals”.
They also affirm their commitment to “merit-based hiring, promotion, and retention” and not engaging in “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) “discrimination and preferences” – including against candidates who have served in the Trump administration.
The law firms have further affirmed that “they will not deny representation to clients, such as members of politically disenfranchised groups and government officials, employees, and advisors, who have not historically received legal representation from major national law firms, including in pro bono matters, and in support of non-profits, because of the personal political views of individual lawyers”.
As a result, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has withdrawn the letters sent to the firms – among a total of 20 – requesting information about how they have applied DEI policies.
A White House statement said: “The President continues to fulfill his promise to the American people that the age of partisan lawfare in America is OVER.”
Jon A Ballis, chairman of Kirkland & Ellis, Khalid Garousha, global senior partner of AO Shearman, Alden Millard, chair of Simpson Thacher’s executive committee and Richard M Trobman, chair and managing partner of Latham & Watkins issued a joint statement.
This said: “We have resolved this matter while upholding long-held principles important to each of our firms: equal employment opportunity; providing pro bono assistance to a wide range of underserved populations, and ensuring fairness in the justice system; and representing a broad spectrum of clients on various matters.”
Cadwalader managing partner Patrick Quinn said: “The substance of our agreement is consistent with the principles that have guided Cadwalader for over 230 years: We always put our client’s interests first; We believe that justice should be available to everyone; and we are committed to attracting, retaining and nurturing the very best talent from all backgrounds…
“We firmly believe that this outcome is in the best interests of our clients, our people, and our firm.”
Five firms have so far been made subject to executive orders, cutting off their and potentially their clients’ contact with the federal government, the most recent being Houston-based Susman Godfrey last week.
Mr Trump said it “spearheads efforts to weaponize the American legal system and degrade the quality of American elections”; Susman Godfrey led Dominion Voting Systems’ successful $787m lawsuit against Fox News over the network’s airing of 2020 election conspiracies.
He also accused Susman of engaging in “unlawful discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race. For example, Susman administers a program where it offers financial awards and employment opportunities only to ‘students of color’.”
The firm is challenging the order in court. In a statement, it said: “The executive order targeting Susman Godfrey is unconstitutional and retaliatory. No administration should be allowed to punish lawyers for simply doing their jobs, protecting Americans and their constitutional right to the legal process.
“But this goes far beyond law firms and lawyers. Today it is our firm under attack, but tomorrow it could be any of us. As officers of the court, we are duty-bound to take on this fight against the illegal executive order.”
Three of the other firms – Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block – have already obtained temporary restraining orders. Covington & Burling was the first to receive an executive order but has not yet taken legal action.
Meanwhile, more than 500 law firms have signed an amicus brief supporting Perkins Coie, including the US arm of magic circle firm Freshfields, as well as Covington.
Other briefs have been filed by 363 law professors, 346 former judges and a “cross-ideological group” of organisations that includes the American Civil Liberties Union, the Institute for Justice, the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press.
Separately, more than 80 former employees of Skadden wrote to the law firm to express “deep outrage” over its decision to reach an agreement, while Jacqui Pittman, an associate at Kirkland & Ellis, posted on LinkedIn over the weekend that she had resigned “in response to the firm’s settlement with and capitulation to the Trump administration”.
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