The Paul Weiss law firm caving to Trump’s demands was bad enough. But the way they did it was even worse. What they agreed to was humiliating:
President Trump on Thursday rescinded an executive order targeting a prominent international law firm after it pledged to review its hiring practices and to provide tens of millions of dollars in free legal services to support certain White House initiatives.
The move follows a meeting between Mr. Trump and Brad Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Garrison & Wharton, over the White House order issued last week.
The order, the latest in a series of similar actions targeting law firms whose lawyers have provided legal work that Mr. Trump disagrees with, threatened to suspend active security clearances of attorneys at Paul, Weiss and to terminate any federal contracts the firm has. It singled out the work of Mark Pomerantz, who previously worked at the firm and who oversaw an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office into Mr. Trump’s finances before Mr. Trump became president.
To avoid those consequences, the White House said Paul, Weiss had agreed to “take on a wide range of pro bono matters that represent the full spectrum of political viewpoints of our society,” to disavow the use of diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in its hiring and promotion decisions and to dedicate the equivalent of $40 million in free legal services to support Trump administration policies on issues including assistance for veterans and countering anti-Semitism.
In a statement issued by the White House, Karp said: “We are gratified that the President has agreed to withdraw the Executive Order concerning Paul, Weiss. We look forward to an engaged and constructive relationship with the President and his Administration.”
A fabulously wealthy, white shoe law firm acting like little Trump bitches is a sorry sight to see. And I had been under the impression that all the big firms that had been similarly targeted were getting together to fight this so it was especially depressing to read it. Presumably if Paul Weiss did this it looked like that effort was over. But Josh Marshall had some info on this that brightened my day a little bit:
So I had been led to believe, mostly by news reports but perhaps also by inertia, that that big amicus brief that some Big Law law firms had been trying to put together had fizzled. That seemed even more clear when news came out yesterday that Paul, Weiss had agreed to undergo a self-criticism session with President Trump and commit $40 million of pro bono work to Making American Great Again. But I’m told that effort is very much still underway. I’m not making any promises. I have no great insight or visibility into the effort. But I’ve been told by what I believe are knowledgable sources that that’s still very much underway and not in a slowly dying on the vine kind of way. So we’ll see.
Let’s hope so. First of all, these firms should think about whether anyone’s going to want to hire them if they are the Trump government’s loyal servants. After reading about that nauseating capitulation I wouldn’t trust them.
Update — This NY Times tick-tock is interesting but it really doesn’t explain why Paul Weiss did it. It claims that the agreement they reached isn’t what Trump said it was so I think they believed they’d appease him with a “win” that doesn’t mean anything. But every time one of these institutions give him a “win” and perform a ritual humiliation dance for him, it makes him stronger. So, in the end I guess it’s just cowardice.