Should Lawyers And Law Firms Pay A Price For Normalizing The Trump Regime?
At what point are lawyers complicit in Trump's attempts to destabilize American democracy?
(AFP OUT)
Every client deserves competent representation. This is a bedrock principle of legal practice. It’s as close as lawyers come to an article of faith. Lawyers defending the very worst in our society is what makes our society one of the very best. Defending the indefensible is one of the highest callings of the lawyer.
For those who believe in the rule of law, providing competent representation for murderers or rapists seems like a no-brainer. Representing Donald Trump, and his cohorts, feels worse, somehow. I know that sounds horribly partisan, but I don’t mean it to be. From the perspective of the “rule of law,” helping Donald Trump and the Trump administration subvert the rule of law feels like an entirely different ethical quandary than helping an alleged murderer avail himself to the rule of law.
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At what point are lawyers complicit in Trump’s attempts to destabilize American democracy?
It’s an issue that firms like Jones Day and Morgan Lewis are getting asked about, a lot.
Politico reports that The Wallace Global Fund, a good-government group, has fired Morgan Lewis as its legal counsel. They’ve done so, explicitly, over Morgan Lewis’s representation of Donald Trump, specifically Sheri Dillon’s role in helping Trump set up the… whatever the hell it is you call Trump’s relationship with the companies he still owns and profits from.
Here’s part of the letter written to Jami Wintz McKeon, chair of Morgan Lewis:
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“Complicit” is the word of the day here. We probably have Saturday Night Live to thank for that.
Speaking of Ivanka Trump, the lawyer who is helping her evade obfuscate comply with ethics rules is taking heat for representing the First Daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner.
Thing is, that lawyer is WilmerHale attorney Jamie Gorelick. In a universe where Hillary Clinton wins, Jamie Gorelick is probably our Attorney General. Politico has a story on the flak she’s taking for representing “the enemy”:
Gorelick sees herself as part of a time-honored Washington tradition of well-respected lawyers representing clients from the opposite party. Two of President Bill Clinton’s chiefs of staff, Mack McLarty and Erskine Bowles, turned to Arthur Culvahouse, former White House counsel under Ronald Reagan, to oversee their ethics arrangements, as did members of President Barack Obama’s administration.
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In normal times, Gorelick’s representation wouldn’t raise eyebrows. But these aren’t normal times. There is the feeling that Ivanka and Kushner are trying to use Gorelick’s credibility to help them disguise what is a patently nepotistic status in the government. Why would Gorelick, or really any decent person, allow themselves to be used by these people?
I think the answer is: this is what lawyers do. Jamie Gorelick, Sheri Dillon, they have paying clients. When you have clients, you work on their behalf. That’s the job. Lawyers are kind of like prostitutes — no offense to prostitutes — you pay them, and they do what you want. They serve an important, and dare I say honorable, role in society. It’s not always pretty, but if you need them they are there for you, provided you can pay the fee.
Moreover, good luck hiring a firm like Morgan Lewis or WilmerHale or anybody of “Biglaw” size who has a client roster full of people and organizations you agree with. It’s hard enough to figure out what fast food you can eat while maintaining your political ideology. Don’t even try to the Biglaw firm that only represents people you like. It’s never going to happen.
The only lawyers I’m willing to call “complicit” in the horror show on Pennsylvania Avenue are the ones who actually work for the White House. Don McGahn, that guy is complicit. He left his lawyer job to serve President “Twitler.” That’s different. Good lawyers tell their clients to turn themselves in, McGahn is the kind of lawyer who offers to drive the getaway car.
Morgan Lewis and WilmerHale, they’re just providing services for paying clients. Lawyers do that every day. And we thank them for their service.
Wallace Global Fund Letter [Politico]
Ivanka’s lawyer, a Democrat, defends herself [Politico]
Earlier: SNL’s Savage Portrayal Of A Biglaw Partner
Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.
