While a law student, I never aspired to be a big firm lawyer. The idea of practicing corporate law bored me senseless as did many of the classmates who wanted to join a fancy firm. The paycheck would have been nice, but the trade-off was unacceptable. That’s truer today than it was when I was a baby lawyer.
Team Trump’s efforts to intimidate lawyers into toeing the MAGA line are working:
“President Donald Trump’s crackdown on lawyers is having a chilling effect on his opponents’ ability to defend themselves or challenge his actions in court, according to people who say they are struggling to find legal representation as a result of his challenges.
Biden-era officials said they’re having trouble finding lawyers willing to defend them. The volunteers and small nonprofits forming the ground troops of the legal resistance to Trump administration actions say that the well-resourced law firms that once would have backed them are now steering clear. The result is an extraordinary threat to fundamental constitutional rights of due process and legal representation, they said — and a far weaker effort to challenge Trump’s actions in court than during his first term.”
Extortion is Team Trump’s jam. Hence the featured image from The Sopranos.
Among the first Big Law dominos to fall was Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison which is a New York law firm with over 1000 lawyers and offices in nine other cities across the globe. This legal behemoth cut a deal with the White House thereby making this statement of principles on their web site sound as hollow as the Insult Comedian’s head:
“We refuse to be deterred by the unpopularity of a client or his cause from accepting a matter which justice and professional responsibility prompt us to take.
We are committed to achieving our objectives without wearing any client’s collar or any political party’s livery. And we believe that in the pursuit of these ends we can maintain a law firm in which all who are associated with it may justly take pride.”
The statement of principles excerpted above was written by the firm’s former senior partner Judge Simon Rifkind in 1963. He was a distinguished attorney and jurist appointed to the bench by Franklin Roosevelt. His name remains on the masthead, but the firm has abandoned his principles. They surrendered to Trumpist extortion without resistance. So much for professional pride or responsibility.
Judge Rifkind weeps.
Paul, Weiss’ caving sets an ominous precedent for the rest of the legal profession. If a firm that storied and powerful refuses to stand up to MAGA bullying, other law firm dominoes will surely tumble. Money is what matters most to Big Law, so it’s not shocking, but it’s a disgrace. Lawyers are supposed to be fighters, not appeasers.
Repeat after me: Appeasement never works.
Andrew Weissmann wrote a piece slicing and dicing the Paul, Weiss surrender:
I do appreciate the difficult situation. I have been the subject of such an executive order and know what it feels like when the immense power of the presidency is used to harass and intimidate. The right response is not appeasement or silence —especially when the executive action is unconstitutional as violative of the First Amendment. Capitulation serves as a clarion call to further such improper action by this administration, and a permission structure to other firms to follow this path of least resistance.”
The Puppetmaster is much nicer than I am. I carp at Karp’s action, especially the agreement to do $40 million in pro bono work for an administration that has already colonized the Justice Department.
Team MAGA has gone after several other law firms in the wake of the Paul, Weiss capitulation. President Pennywise has instructed his hapless Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek sanctions “against attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States.”
Does anyone believe that Trump knows what vexatious means?
The latest law firm targeted for MAGA extortion is Jenner & Block, which used to employ Bob Muller and the aforementioned Andrew Weissman. The Puppetmaster was attacked with particular vitriol in an executive order:
“Jenner was “thrilled” to re-hire the unethical Andrew Weissmann after his time engaging in partisan prosecution as part of Robert Mueller’s entirely unjustified investigation. Andrew Weissmann’s career has been rooted in weaponized government and abuse of power, including devastating tens of thousands of American families who worked for the now defunct Arthur Andersen LLP, only to have his unlawfully aggressive prosecution overturned by the Supreme Court. The numerous reports of Weissman’s dishonesty, including pursuit of nonexistent crimes, bribery to foreign nationals, and overt demand that the Federal Government pursue a political agenda against me, is a concerning indictment of Jenner’s values and priorities.”
The bitter irony in these attacks on Big Law is that Defendant Trump took full advantage of legal procedure to delay two of three criminal cases filed against him.
The only way to deal with extortion is to stand firm and not give in. Once you surrender, you’re doomed to repeat visits from the extortionists. Just ask any wise guy, real or reel. The current administration runs on gangster logic: fear and intimidation are their weapons of choice. Unlike Tony Soprano, they don’t send muscle to intimidate Big Law, they send men in suits carrying briefcases, not guns.
The dominoes keep falling.
The last word goes to Squeeze:
