The Paul Weiss law firm has capitulated to muscling by the President of the United States, who rides with the Republicans…
The Weiss outfit HAS lost respect from it’s peers….
(It will do $40Million of FREE work for the Trump view of the country)
Weither that means anything we’ll see….
They WILL lose money from Democrats one would assume…
(They will making a fire sale of legal talent to other firms one would assume also)
Trump IS working to make inroads against Democrats and THEIR idea’s of what Amewrica should be in his contiunal attacks on the American Government that Joe Biden presided over…
But for most of us?
Lawyers are much of anything anyways, eh?
Some lawyers said the deal was driven by profit. Others said it was enabling autocracy. One said the move had prompted her to quit her legal job in disgust.
All over the legal world, lawyers on Friday were talking about the deal that Paul Weiss, one of the nation’s most prominent law firms, had made with President Trump to escape an onerous executive order that would have prevented it from representing many clients before the federal government. To avoid the hit to its business, the firm agreed to do $40 million worth of pro bono work for causes favored by the White House.
It was a striking development in the White House’s broad retribution campaign against big law firms that represented lawyers or prosecutors in the criminal cases against Mr. Trump before the 2024 election.
Paul Weiss’s move was a particular point of contention because of the firm’s standing in the legal community. The firm has long been dominated by Democrats and prided itself on being at the forefront of fights against the government for civil rights.
“They have all the resources they need to fight an unlawful order,” said John Moscow, who was a top prosecutor at the Manhattan district attorney’s office under Robert Morgenthau. “The example they are setting is to surrender to unlawful orders rather than fight them in court.”
…
Lawyers at firms both large and small took to social media to denounce the firm.
“Absolutely shameful and spineless behavior,” one lawyer posted on X.
“This is a time for soul-searching,” another lawyer, who used to work at Paul Weiss, wrote on LinkedIn.
“It’s not too late to leave your firm and find one with a backbone,” said a commenter on Paul Weiss’s corporate LinkedIn page….
…
Mr. Trump has issued executive orders targeting other law firms, too, including Perkins Coie, which opted last week to sue in federal court. A federal judge in Washington ruled that the order targeting Perkins was likely unconstitutional and issued a restraining order halting it. That legal battle is ongoing.
The American Bar Association released a statement this month condemning the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine major law firms, stating that these actions by the White House “deny clients access to justice and betray our fundamental values.” The association declined to comment on Friday on Paul Weiss’s arrangement with the White House.
Hundreds of associates at leading corporate law firms have signed an open letter calling on their employers to speak out against the Trump administration’s moves, arguing that the White House’s behavior could intimidate firms from taking on specific clients….
…
“In no way does the agreement constrain Paul Weiss’s ability to zealously represent clients’ interests in their defense against Trump administration actions or regulatory litigation from executive agencies,” Mr. Sonnenfeld said.
But the Paul Weiss drama has raised bigger questions in the legal industry: What does it mean to be a lawyer if the administration can make demands on how a firm runs its business?
Paul Weiss “is merely rearranging the proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic,” Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, wrote on X. “With this administration, there will be no legitimate legal system and no need for actual lawyers.”…
Note….
The statement that the Weiss firm would keep fighting against Trump interests in the Federal Courts sounds naive and ludicrous ….
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