State AGs, Bars Urge Attys To Speak Up Over Trump Orders
The letters come after Trump issued executive orders related to four law firms — Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, Perkins Coie LLP, Covington & Burling LLP and, the latest target, Jenner & Block LLP — suspending security clearances for employees and taking other actions.
In justifying the orders, Trump has cited the firms' connections to individuals involved in past investigations of him, what he called "partisan" litigation work, and their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
"We cannot allow the president to scare law firms and lawyers into silence," said the letter, signed by 21 state attorneys general. "Law firms must refuse to bow to illegal and unconstitutional threats of retribution for having the temerity to represent clients and cases opposing the administration. To refuse to accept such clients would be to allow the executive to ignore legal constraints and limitations."
Paul Weiss came under fire last week for its decision to strike a deal with the Trump administration in which the firm agreed to not pursue certain diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices and to provide $40 million worth of pro bono services to support administration initiatives.
Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp said in a Sunday memo explaining the decision that the executive order "could easily have destroyed our firm," and pointed to what he said was a lack of public support from peers in the legal community.
"It brought the full weight of the government down on our firm, our people, and our clients," the memo said. "... Disappointingly, far from support, we learned that certain other firms were seeking to exploit our vulnerabilities by aggressively soliciting our clients and recruiting our attorneys."
State attorneys general from New York, Arizona, Michigan and more said that lawyers have a responsibility to push back on the president's attempt to "bully law firms out of representing clients who may be politically disfavored, or clients out of being represented by counsel of their choosing." They added that the orders would have a "chilling effect" on law firms' pro bono efforts in areas like immigration.
"Any doubt that these tactics will have their intended effect if the legal community does not speak to condemn these inappropriate attacks on law firm independence should be dispelled by Paul Weiss's acquiescence to them," the letter said.
In a statement to Law360 on Wednesday evening, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields defended Trump's actions.
"President Trump is making BigLaw great again!" he said. "Instead of using their power and influence to make our country dangerous and less free, BigLaw is working to use its access to the federal government for good. This is only possible because of the swift leadership of President Trump to hold BigLaw accountable."
Also on Wednesday, the American Bar Association released a statement co-signed by more than 50 state and local bar associations around the country similarly decrying the president's actions against the law firms and recent call to impeach a judge over an unfavorable ruling.
Trump, earlier this month, called for impeaching a D.C. federal judge who blocked the deportation of a group of Venezuelans. In response, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement saying, "impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."
In its letter, the ABA urged lawyers to "speak out against intimidation."
"We reject the notion that the U.S. government can punish lawyers and law firms who represent certain clients or punish judges who rule certain ways," the letter said. "If lawyers do not speak, who will speak for our judges? Who will protect our bedrock of justice? If we do not speak now, when will we speak? Now is the time. That is why we stand together with the ABA in support of the rule of law."
The letter by the attorneys general also highlighted Trump's March 6 order directing the U.S. attorney general to conduct an inquiry into all national law firms' diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and a memo released on Friday asking that the U.S. Department of Justice to seek sanctions against lawyers and firms who lodge "frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious" lawsuits against the federal government, particularly in immigration, national security, public safety and election integrity.
Deans of 78 law schools, including UCLA School of Law, Cornell University Law School and Georgetown University Law Center, also released a letter Wednesday condemning the sanctions imposed on law firms.
"We write to reaffirm basic principles: The government should not punish lawyers and law firms for the clients they represent, absent specific findings that such representation was illegal or unethical," the letter said. "We thus speak as legal educators, responsible for training the next generation of lawyers, in condemning any government efforts to punish lawyers or their firms based on the identity of their clients or for their zealous lawful and ethical advocacy."
--Editing by Nicole Bleier.
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