Opinion | Americas Most Powerful Law Firms Wont Stand Up to Trump
In his chaotic attempt to dismantle democratic governance, redefine citizenship and cast aside fundamental rights of speech and due process, President Trump has all but declared war on one of the most effective forces to stand in his way: America’s legal institutions.He has moved to purge the Department of Justice of all but those he perceives as loyal to him personally, demanded changes to law school curriculums, called with increasing furor for the impeachment of judges with whom he disagrees, attacked by name public-interest attorneys and bar associations that oppose his policies, and inched perilously close to defying court orders outright.In recent weeks Mr.
Trump has also gone after the nation’s leading law firms — Covington & Burling; Perkins Coie; Paul, Weiss; and many more — with measures meant to hobble their ability to do business.Of all of the American legal institutions now facing sustained attack, none would seem better positioned to push back against Mr.Trump’s strongman tactics than this class of wealthy and politically connected firms, known collectively as Big Law.
Counsel to the world’s most powerful corporations, they are engaged in every sector of the marketplace and central to ensuring that the United States and global economy continue to spin.Yet where many ordinary judges, law school deans and public interest attorneys of both political parties have found the courage to push back against Mr.
Trump’s anti-constitutional histrionics, Big Law has largely stayed silent or worse.These firms face a classic problem of collective action: Every individual firm has an incentive to keep quiet, but if everyone stays silent, all will lose.The problem is understandable.
It is also solvable.It requires firms to find the courage to act together.Covington & Burling, the white-shoe Washington-based firm, was first to be targeted by the president.
Its offense: having provided pro bono legal work for Jack Smith, who led the federal pro...