You might not think that Donald Trump bullying a law firm into submission is a particularly bad sign for where we are on the road to authoritarianism — but it is.
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There is a “Featured News” section at the top of the homepage of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Garrison & Wharton that touts its involvement in billion-dollar deals and securing favorable rulings for giant corporations. What is missing is the headline, “Paul, Weiss Folds to Petty Dictator in an Embarrassing Display of Cowardice.”
Because that is certainly the biggest news in the world of white-collar law firms. We could almost go as far as saying that it is the biggest legal news in the country, but that same petty dictator also happens to be in the process of taking a sledgehammer to the rule of law right now, so the firm’s capitulation only comes second.
Here is what happened: Paul, Weiss was one of the law firms that Donald Trump targeted with an executive order as part of his “I Will Destroy America Because I Can’t Handle Losing in 2020” tour.
As a result of this (perhaps illegal but certainly unethical) order, the firm stood to lose some business because, unsurprisingly, corporate America does not actually care one bit about the country’s values as long as standing up for them means less profits.
So, while the good people at Perkins Coie fought back against Trump’s tyrannical tactics (and scored an initial victory), Paul, Weiss decided to cower in fear.
Trump announced on Thursday evening that he had agreed to withdraw the executive order targeting the firm after it made a series of concessions.
One of them is to make a statement about the “justice system [being] betrayed when it is misused to achieve political ends.”
We would tell you exactly how ironic that is, but our “AreYouKiddingMe2025” irony detector exploded when we typed in that statement.
Using the power of the executive branch (plus a few powers that are definitely not in the Constitution) to browbeat into submission law firms that did some work for a president’s political opponents is the very definition of the justice system being (ab)used for political ends.
There was more to the statement, but it is so ridiculous that it’s not worth repeating. If you must, you can read for yourself how contrived it sounds (just know that you will see a MyPillow ad since it was posted on Truth Social).
And, of course, some grifting was involved.
Paul, Weiss also agreed to “dedicate the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services over the course of President Trump’s term to support the Administration’s initiatives.” The examples named sound palatable enough, but don’t be surprised if Trump ends up involving them in the Perkins Coie litigation just because he derives some perverse pleasure from watching his “adversaries” fight.
Who wants to be represented by a law firm that won’t even fight for itself?
Or maybe it’ll just be work on Tesla’s behalf or helping Mar-a-Lago guests or crafting some unconstitutional executive orders.
Apparently, Trump also snuck language into the agreement that states that the firm will no longer “pursue any DEI policies.”
What is not specifically mentioned in this agreement but certainly implied is that Paul, Weiss will also surrender any integrity it may have had at one point.
In any case, we hope that its capitulation will cost the firm all of its clients. After all, who wants to be represented by a firm that won’t even fight for itself?
Realistically, however, that won’t happen because of that entire “all about money and not values” thing we mentioned earlier.
Now, it is possible that you are thinking, “Why should I care about a bunch of rich lawyers?”
After all, that famous quote about not standing up to the Nazis starts with “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist,” not “First they came for rich-yet-cowardly attorneys, and I did not speak because I was not a rich-yet-cowardly attorney.”
It’s a valid question.
The answer is, of course, that it shows that the Trump administration is so emboldened right now that it will indiscriminately target even those who, in theory, have the means to fight back.
And that means that, no matter which group you belong to, you may be next. When that happens, the question is whether you, too, will fold.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
