I worked at Paul Weiss many years ago for a year-and-a-half. It was a terrible place for me, but I still respected many things about the firm. I’m so disappointed in and ashamed for them. What a complete capitulation. It’s a big powerful firm and this sets a horrible precedent.
Any idea why they did it? They'd have won in court.
$. Avoid death threats. Keep their employees safe and working. I don't think it was political. Just profoundly disappointing
While the rest of us less powerful less rich not trained in law are on the streets and social media, putting ourselves at risk daily. The precedent they set was a disaster. All the TV lawyers are stunned.
I has an interesting conversation with a friend who was in management at Perkins Coie who had a surprisingly sympathetic perspective on Paul Weiss although she wished they chose differently.
PW didn’t want to be blacklisted - and, I guess the firm can continue its diversity practices without having DEI listed in its platform. I’m still disappointed. Perkins Coie took the better approach. What did your friend say?
The weight of keeping staff safe in the workplace from threats to the firm. Safety drills, all access doors locked etc. And while many but not all lawyers may be able to afford to keep themselves safe in and out of the office, staff can't. Perkins nevertheless did what it did now...
and with threats related to its role in the Steele dossier but a lot of considerations went into how to proceed
So they surrendered before anything happened. That's what good Germans did. Stay low, don't make a fuss, act like it's all normal. Just pure cowardice.
And keep from laying off staff, as you mentioned above.