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Donald Trump.
| Photo Credit: AFP
U.S. President Donald Trump’s offensive against lawyers and law firms who have crossed swords with him in the past is being met with a mixture of capitulation and defiance.
The 78-year-old Trump, the first convicted felon to serve in the White House, has a long and acrimonious history with the justice system.
Since taking office, the Republican President has moved to settle scores with the law firms that have represented his political foes or dragged him into court on civil or criminal charges.
Mr. Trump has signed executive orders targeting four so-called “Big Law” firms so far, suspending the security clearances of their attorneys and ordering the termination of their federal government contracts.
‘Trying to intimidate’
Nancy Northup, CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the President is seeking to “intimidate lawyers with threats of financial sanctions, disbarment, and worse, simply for doing their jobs.”
Mr. Trump’s first target was Covington & Burling, a Washington-based law firm which did pro bono work for Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought two criminal cases against Mr. Trump, both of which were dropped after he won November’s election.
The President retaliated next against Seattle-based Perkins Coie over its work with Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, claiming it had engaged in “dishonest and dangerous activity.”
During the campaign, Perkins Coie hired a research agency that produced the since discredited “Steele Dossier” that alleged Mr. Trump had colluded with Russia.
District Judge Beryl Howell issued a restraining order temporarily blocking Trump’s sanctions against the firm, describing them as “retaliatory” and saying they “send chills down my spine.”
While Perkins Coie went to court, another targeted law firm, Paul Weiss, cut a deal with Trump that includes providing $40 million in pro bono legal services to “support the administration’s initiatives.”
Defending the move in an open letter to his 2,500 employees, Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp said Trump’s sanctions “could easily have destroyed our firm.”
A former Perkins Coie partner, Marc Elias, was the target of another broadside by Mr. Trump.
In a memorandum last week, Mr. Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to sanction lawyers and law firms “who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States.”
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Published – March 27, 2025 11:04 am IST
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Capitulation, defiance as Trump takes aim at law firms
