The Wrongologist

The Daily Escape:

From Charlie Sykes:

“…I regret to tell you that the Great Grovel continues — as Big Law, universities, and the media join the feverish scramble of fear and favor, principle be damned. They tell themselves that collective resistance is futile and that surrender in advance will protect them from Trumpist revenge….Over the weekend, Columbia University yielded to the Trump Administration’s demands; and the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison caved to his threats.”

(The firm is usually referred to as Paul, Weiss).

The firm, which had revenue last year of more than $2.6 billion, agreed to represent clients of any political affiliation and donate a staggering $40 million in pro bono work to support Trump’s agenda.

If that sounds like giving Trump control over how the firm chooses at least some of its clients and causes it supports, that’s exactly what Paul, Weiss did.

They agreed to these conditions to get Trump to rescind his executive order (EO) suspending security clearances for firm employees, restricting their access to federal buildings, and instructing agency heads to limit employee contact with the firm. Those restrictions would have seriously compromised the firm’s ability to handle cases related to government employees or government matters.

But when you negotiate with an extortionist, the game never ends. Predictably, Paul, Weiss’s surrender triggered an even more aggressive and toxic attack on the legal profession by Trump.  

Andrew Weissman offered this warning: (emphasis by Wrongo)

“The concerted attacks on lawyers, law firms, and judges. are coordinated strategy to discredit and intimidate legal actors who dare to challenge the Trump administration. At stake is preservation of the ability of our legal system to function without fear or favor. When lawyers are targeted for representing unpopular clients, and judges face threats for upholding the law, we risk undoing the very prerequisites that make justice possible.”

From Lisa Needham: (emphasis by Wrongo)

“Paul, Weiss…is the first to buckle in the face of an attack by…Trump, but it definitely will not be the last. The capitulation of one of the nation’s most prominent law firms is the worst sort of complying in advance, and its complete surrender immediately emboldened Trump to issue a new directive threatening any lawyer who sues the administration.”

Paul, Weiss managing partner Brad Karp sent a firm-wide letter explaining why he chose to say uncle so swiftly. He explained that Trump’s EO functionally threatened Paul, Weiss’s clients with the loss of their government contracts and access to the government if they continued to use the firm. Karp said he initially hoped the legal industry would “rally to our side,” but that didn’t happen. In fact, big law firm competitors tried to recruit Paul, Weiss partners and directly solicit their clients.

The firm at first planned to file a lawsuit challenging the executive order, as the firm Perkins Coie did when Trump recently targeted that firm with a similar EO. Perkins Coie won a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking much of the EO from taking effect, with the judge saying Trump’s order was probably unconstitutional. But this didn’t deter Trump, who issued the executive order against Paul, Weiss three days after the Perkins Coie TRO was granted.

Trump just continued shopping for a law firm to extort.

Trump also used his Friday announcement to attack one particular lawyer by name, Marc Elias. From the NYT:

“Mr. Elias previously worked at Perkins Coie, and has long represented Democrats. Mr. Trump blames Mr. Elias, among others, for a dossier of unsubstantiated allegations about his links to Russia that was investigated by the FBI in 2016 and 2017.”

Elias said in a written statement:

“President Trump’s goal is clear. He wants lawyers and law firms to capitulate and cower until there is no one left to oppose his administration in court….There will be no negotiation with this White House about the clients we represent or the lawsuits we bring on their behalf.”

You know that Trump isn’t finished with Paul, Weiss. There will be innumerable demands. What if Trump is dissatisfied with the quality of the pro bono work? What if Paul, Weiss loses the pro bono cases? What if Trump disputes how the $40 million is accounted for?

We’re truly at a Vichy moment in American history, and that slope is very slippery. Appeasement doesn’t end well. There will be no end to the negotiations or the threats.

Paul Weiss will become a diminished law firm. They could lose clients who subscribe to the thinking: “If they won’t fight for themselves, how hard will they fight for us?”