Biglaw

Greenberg Traurig Distances Itself From Rudy Giuliani

Giuliani obviously put the firm in a delicate situation, and the firm responded in the best way they could.

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To our GT Family,

Most if not all of us have read about or had more personal experiences with US President Trump’s executive order on immigration which indefinitely barred Syrian refugees from entering the United States, suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and blocked citizens of seven countries, refugees or otherwise, from entering the United States for 90 days: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The order has created a good deal of chaos in the US immigration system and in airports in the United States and overseas, and prompted substantial protests and significant legal actions.

The order has been the subject of much controversy and criticism though of course many also support it.

It has come to my attention that Rudy Giuliani, one of our shareholders, has appeared or been quoted in the media with respect to this order. It has also been alleged that he may have provided some informal advice with respect to it.

Let me be very clear:

1. At no time has our law firm been retained with respect to this matter nor has Mayor Giuliani served in any legal role or official capacity with respect to the same.

2. At our very core, from our first days as a law firm 50 years ago, we have stood for diversity and giving a chance to immigrants. Cesar Alvarez is a first generation American and represents everything that is great about our law firm, along with many others. My own mother was born in what is now Belarus (then Poland). I would not likely ever have been born if she and her brother, sister and parents were not permitted to escape and come to this country. So many others all around our law firm, lawyers and nonlawyers, have their own stories about the importance of America as a destination for those in need or looking to find their own version of the American Dream.

3. Having said all that, we are not a political party or a social organization. We are a law firm and business trying to deliver excellence and value to our clients in an extremely competitive world. We are operating, however, in a very polarized political environment and a very dangerous world, where hard decisions must be made and real terror exists. We must however avoid anything that would drive wedges between us as members of the GT family with diverse views or between our firm and our clients, and taking positions on these kinds of controversial issues is something we do not do as a firm. If Mayor Giuliani did so, it was without authority of our firm, not on behalf of our firm and in his personal capacity only, that must be clear.

I will leave you with this thought on this Sunday, which I hope you are otherwise enjoying:

“We should all consider each other as human beings, and we should respect each other.”

–Malala Yousafzai

All my best, and may God bless us all,

Richard

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