'Betrayal of the Legal Profession': Lawyers Are Dismayed at Firm Bowing to Trump

[Eugene]

Source: Rolling Stone

‘Betrayal of the Legal Profession’: Lawyers Are Dismayed at Firm Bowing to Trump

Nikki McCann Ramirez
Fri, March 21, 2025 at 2:34 PM EDT·5 min read

The law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (Paul Weiss) is facing blowback from the legal community after agreeing to provide $40 million in pro bono representation to the Trump administration in order to avoid being punished by the president for representing his political rivals and defending laws and principles he disagrees with.

Earlier this month, Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting major American and global law firms he accused of engaging in “activities that make our communities less safe, increase burdens on local businesses, limit constitutional freedoms, and degrade the quality of American elections.” The president claimed that Paul Weiss had violated civil rights law by engaging in diversity, equity, and inclusion-based hiring practices. Trump also complained that the firm had previously employed Mark Pomerantz, a former special assistant district attorney in New York who urged Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to pursue an indictment against Trump in 2022. Pomerantz has since become a target of MAGA Republicans retribution agenda against Trump’s perceived political enemies.

The executive order — which like many of Trump’s presidential edicts is of dubious legality — would have stripped all “security clearances held by individuals at Paul Weiss and Mark Pomerantz,” revoked all federal contracts involving the law firm, and barred employees of the firm from accessing federal buildings.

On Thursday, the president announced that he had rescinded the order after meeting with Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp. In a lengthy statement posted on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the firm had committed to “not deny representation to clients, including in pro bono matters and in support of non-profits, because of the personal political views of individual lawyers.”

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Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/betrayal-legal-profession-lawyers-dismayed-183403970.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I am an attorney and I am appalled by the

unethical “Let’s Make A Deal” with TSF.

Impartiality and fairness are drilled into us at law school and we have to take refresher courses after being admitted.

Somebody’s going to get sanctioned.

[Lonestarblue]

2. I am appalled by this craven capitulation to Trump's threats.

As Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I’m sure there are good people in thus country who are equally appalled by Trump, Musk, and the Republican Do-Nothing Party in Congress, but they are assisting in this evil by doing nothing to speak out against it.

[BigMin28]

3. Access and dollars

That are the only things that matter in America anymore. No matter where you turn. Even the media has mostly capitulated.