May these companies lose more than that because clients can no longer trust them. I know I’d never trust a law firm to fight for me that could not even fight for itself.
Replies
The most subversive thing to do would be to accept the cases and then subtly tank them. it will be clear by the end that the firm has both a 'real' track record and a 'Trump pro bono' track record, so their rep won't end up getting hurt.
apr 12, 2025, 3:31 pm • 2 0 • view
The reason law firms are capitulating is because clients and partners are leaving or threatening to leave them, which is what happens when the President issues an EO that, if enforced, would make it practically impossible for your firm to practice federal law.
apr 11, 2025, 11:35 pm • 37 0 • view
They will no longer be practicing law due to the capitulation. They will be practicing discrimination.
apr 12, 2025, 12:03 am • 21 0 • view
And we all know they couldn’t survive. They have the capital to outlast Trump. They choose not to.
apr 12, 2025, 12:21 am • 1 0 • view
These firms do not have the capital to outlast Trump. If they unified they could fight him collectively, but they can’t outlast him if he successfully makes it impossible for them to do business while other firms are waiting in the wings to steal clients and lawyers.
apr 12, 2025, 12:45 am • 0 0 • view
Guarantee they have enough equity. They could do no business for 4 years and survive. But yes, they absolutely should fight. It’s cowardice at every level.
apr 12, 2025, 12:47 am • 2 0 • view
I seriously doubt they do, and I suspect I understand their business model better than you. Law firms don’t hold huge cash reserves - they pay out profits to their partners. And even access to financing will be more difficult with these EOs hanging over their heads.
apr 12, 2025, 12:54 am • 0 0 • view
Then the equity is with the partners. Same concept.
apr 12, 2025, 1:08 am • 0 0 • view
They’re limited partnerships - partners aren’t obligated to kick in to fund the firm’s operations, and they can take their money and their clients and go to another firm whenever they want. So could individual partners last 4 years without pay? Some could. But their firms couldn’t.
apr 12, 2025, 1:19 am • 1 0 • view
Gotcha. Thanks for explaining. You obviously know more than I.
apr 12, 2025, 1:25 am • 1 0 • view
I only know about Biglaw because I was in it for a long time!
apr 12, 2025, 1:46 am • 1 0 • view
I get it. I know enough to defer to those who know. Appreciate it.
apr 12, 2025, 1:52 am • 1 0 • view
Lawyers like college professors are for the most part only interested in their careers and the money or status it brings. They talk a good game but a little pressure and they come up with all manner of excuses to comply.
apr 12, 2025, 3:00 am • 1 0 • view
Marc Elias on the other hand is a hero
apr 12, 2025, 3:02 am • 6 1 • view
He is, but it’s not really the same. Fighting the government on constitutional and civil rights issues was always core to his business. I’m not saying he isn’t sacrificing by making himself a target, but putting himself out there is free advertising for his services and his business is booming.
apr 12, 2025, 3:14 am • 1 0 • view
History will remember him fondly.
apr 12, 2025, 3:12 am • 1 1 • view
An honorable law firm would sue to contest an EO to keep them out of Federal courts.
apr 12, 2025, 3:15 am • 1 0 • view
But doesn't this give Trump carte blanche for choosing who they can't represent as well?
apr 12, 2025, 12:04 am • 7 0 • view
That’s where I’d expect this to end up, but it’s rational for a law firm to decide they’d rather risk losing a few clients that Trump doesn’t like than losing most of their clients to competitors who have capitulated. I’m not saying it’s right, just that it’s a financially rational choice.
apr 12, 2025, 12:17 am • 0 0 • view
it's a rational choice if the extortion were from a rational actor who cared about maintaining relationships. but they made these "deals" with trump. lol
apr 12, 2025, 1:37 am • 1 0 • view
why yes, yes it does.
apr 12, 2025, 12:15 am • 7 0 • view
Are clients and partners threatening to leave them or is that just what they are afraid of? It’s just so pathetic to see law firms allowing themselves to be extorted. Land of the free and home of the brave my ass.
apr 12, 2025, 3:01 am • 0 0 • view
The chairman of Paul Weiss said that, before they settled with Trump, competitors (Cravath and others) were poaching clients based on the EO. And it makes sense that clients would leave! Business clients generally use lawyers to reduce risks. Engaging a targeted law firm increases their risks.
apr 12, 2025, 3:09 am • 1 0 • view
I hope to look forward to reading future books about the cowardice of those partners and their complicity w/ a fascist administration that blatantly undermines the rule of law.
apr 12, 2025, 3:26 am • 1 0 • view
There is no excuse. They are complying in advance…for money. 💰 These #BigLaw firms don’t want to lose clients? My dad went to Europe at 18 years old to fight fascism on another continent. He lost just about every friend he had in WWll. NO ONE IS ASKING LAW FIRMS TO DO THAT ARE THEY?
apr 12, 2025, 12:21 am • 10 1 • view
Please share!The rich have declared class war and we must respond in kind!Our greatest power has ALWAYS been that we're the caretakers of the machines.Slow production Waste their money! One giant day of insurance claims! Make this happen! Make fascism unprofitable with workplace disruption!
apr 12, 2025, 2:45 am • 0 0 • view
We are just asking them to help protect our democracy and they can’t even do that?
apr 12, 2025, 12:24 am • 7 0 • view
and so what?? then what? they go to a firm who sucks Trump off? A firm that will throw them and their entire case under the bus if Trump doesn't like it? Fuck that happy horseshit. All they needed to do was stand together. But they didn't because they're fucking cowards. fuck 'em all.
apr 12, 2025, 12:15 am • 103 5 • view
“Fuck that happy horseshit” is a phrase I will use!
apr 12, 2025, 12:47 am • 1 0 • view
I learned it from my dad 😆
apr 12, 2025, 1:16 am • 1 0 • view
Another one I’ve heard and used is “what in the history of fuck?”
apr 12, 2025, 1:18 am • 1 0 • view
ooo that's a new one for me
apr 12, 2025, 1:20 am • 1 0 • view
Use it!
apr 12, 2025, 1:21 am • 1 0 • view
Agreed. The law is not their priority. 'Nuff said.
apr 12, 2025, 12:20 am • 33 1 • view
They have phone numbers. Call and ask how they like working for nazi collaborators www.paulweiss.com/contact-us www.milbankworks.com/contact www.willkie.com/contact-us Call skadden +12127353000
apr 12, 2025, 1:31 pm • 3 1 • view
Columbia capitulated and Trump kept escalating anyhow, now wanting a consent decree so the feds can directly run the university. Universities that told Trump to fuck off are doing much better. No reason to think it won't be the trajectory for these law firms.
apr 12, 2025, 12:14 am • 13 1 • view
Which universities told Trump to fuck off? It’s way too early to call winners and losers there. Trump’s attacks on academia are only getting underway. Harvard, Cornell, Brown and Northwestern are all facing massive fed funding cuts on the basis of pretextual civil rights investigations.
apr 12, 2025, 12:30 am • 1 0 • view
And with the canceling of student visas, unis be suffering. Watch for Golf to suddenly become the sports recruiting tool.
apr 15, 2025, 4:07 pm • 0 0 • view
This is an imaginary reason.
apr 12, 2025, 1:35 am • 0 0 • view
So what’s your theory? Why are firms capitulating? Including firms with strong ties to the Democratic Party like Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher? Are they all just fascists deep down?
apr 12, 2025, 1:56 am • 0 0 • view
Because they are weak dorks.
apr 12, 2025, 3:00 am • 1 0 • view
Talk about an “imaginary reason.”
apr 12, 2025, 3:15 am • 1 0 • view
They won't be practicing private sector law for me as a result, so 🤷♂️
apr 12, 2025, 12:50 am • 3 0 • view
If you were a Fortune 500 that might move their needle. But you’d probably have to bring a lot of your Fortune 500 friends along to move it enough. Unfortunately, major clients clearly aren’t backing firms against Trump.
apr 12, 2025, 12:57 am • 1 0 • view
I work at a Fortune 50 and have discretion to choose my outside counsel 🤷♂️ I'm certainly not going to move the needle myself but surely others are making similar decisions.
apr 12, 2025, 1:16 am • 3 0 • view
Question is whether more clients (by revenue) choose to end relationships with law firms that capitulate or with law firms that fight. I suspect many clients would rather avoid taking on the risk of using a firm that’s in direct conflict with this administration than to stick with them on principle.
apr 12, 2025, 1:45 am • 0 0 • view
I doubt many will move existing matters or make a show of breaking off a relationship (either direction) but these decisions might play a role in placing new matters (either direction).
apr 12, 2025, 2:16 am • 0 0 • view
Who wants to hire an attorney who will sell clients out whenever the extortionist says so?
apr 12, 2025, 12:45 am • 5 0 • view
Maybe fight the order.
apr 12, 2025, 12:38 am • 0 0 • view
Fighting doesn’t change the fact that your clients won’t want to, e.g., start a multi-year litigation or corporate reorganization with you if they know there’s a real risk you’ll lose your ability to practice law if you lose this fight. And your partners are going to leave with their clients.
apr 12, 2025, 12:49 am • 1 0 • view
Ok, but some other law firms seem to disagree with this capitulation approach.
apr 12, 2025, 1:09 am • 2 0 • view
And they should be applauded and supported! But most targeted firms didn’t do that, which tells me that the risks of fighting are very real.
apr 12, 2025, 1:35 am • 0 0 • view
That makes sense. This is one of those issues that sounds bad until you look at the practical reasons underlying the decision.
apr 12, 2025, 12:23 am • 1 0 • view
Don’t get me wrong, I think it is bad. It might make business sense, but not moral sense. I wish the firms had coordinated to resist. Resistance needs to be a whole-of-society effort, otherwise they pick us off piece by piece.
apr 12, 2025, 12:37 am • 1 0 • view
The company may fold but the douchebags in charge will be just fine
apr 12, 2025, 10:36 pm • 0 0 • view
Seriously. If I'm after an attorney, I need a bulldog, not a pussy... cat.
apr 12, 2025, 12:49 am • 0 0 • view