Nine Biglaw firms struck deals with Donald Trump in order to avoid his punitive Executive Orders designed to extract a financial penalty. The lily-livered nine already faced congressional scrutiny over their Trumpian deals, and it is getting worse.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Jamie Raskin probed the firms on the content of the deals. Their response? Desperate backpedaling, and in a way that truly felt more than a little disingenuous. Many of the firms claimed — despite the nearly $1 billion in pro bono payola that MAGA has repeatedly crowed about (and is already plotting how to spend) — their pro bono decisions would be their own. Notwithstanding the slick talk from firms, there are still questions about those deals.
In particular, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, says the firms have some ‘splaining to do. Letters were sent to Skadden, Paul Weiss, Milbank, Willkie Farr, Kirkland & Ellis, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher, Latham & Watkins, and Cadwalader warning that “there is abundant reason to expect that [the firms] may be dragooned by the Trump Administration into fossil fuel’s service.” Because Trump has already been floating using these pro bono dollars to negotiate coal contracts and “[t]he fossil fuel industry exerts near-dominion over the Trump Administration and has a well-established record of inducing attorneys general whom it supports politically to provide the industry free legal services at taxpayer expense.”
“Such arrangements reportedly originally contemplated pro bono representation for largely uncontroversial causes, such as advocating for veterans. Now, reportedly, ‘some Trump advisers have started having discussions about a range of options for what the firms’ lawyers can be deployed to work on’ …. While signing executive orders targeting state and local climate laws and attempting to prop up the coal industry, President Trump announced to a group of coal executives and miners, ‘We’re going to use some of those firms to work with you on your leasing and your other things,’” wrote Whitehouse.
Ranking Member Whitehouse told Above the Law:
“The rights of the American people are being stripped away while the nation’s top law firms pay a ransom to the Trump Administration to avoid the wrath and retaliation of this gangster government. Trump is brazen in his disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law, and it’s become alarmingly clear that his Administration intends to use these ‘pro bono’ agreements to coerce firms into doing his bidding—despite a court order finding that the agreements likely violated the Constitution. This is legal plunder—sanctioned by capitulation—and it puts our entire country at risk. Even putting aside that these agreements likely violate the Antideficiency Act and the law against shopping out inherently governmental functions, the fact remains that climate change is already driving up families’ costs for essentials like groceries and home insurance, so make no mistake: any law firms that are co-opted by this Administration into obstructing climate action will bear responsibility for those consequences and the looming economy-wide shocks.”
The firms have until May 30th to respond.
In addition to this new congressional investigation, the firms that sold out the rule of law are really feeling the consequences of their actions. Many clients see the deals as a weakness and, increasingly, are pulling work away from the firms that have demonstrated they are unwilling to take a legal fight to the Trump administration. Plus, there’s a bit of an exodus of attorneys leaving the firms that caved to Trump, hoping to get the stink of capitulation off their resumes.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].