Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
I think partners and attorneys at these firms are going to have to make their individual choice regarding whether they’re willing to continue to practice at a place that’s … not standing up to attacks on the Constitution. You, as law students, have a choice to make: if you think you’re going to a law firm, one of the criteria—maybe the criteria—to use to decide is whether you want to go to law firms that fought that or law firms that capitulated.
— Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of UC Berkeley Law, in comments given during during a presentation exploring the role that lawyers and their firms play in protecting the rule of law in America, where he encouraged students to stand up for what they believe is right when making career decisions. Chermerinsky went on to say he thought that if law firms had presented a united front challenging Trump’s punitive executive orders rather than entering into questionable deals, the firms would likely have won, and Trump perhaps would have changed his tune after a string of court losses. “I think this would have gone away relatively quickly,” he said.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.