Complying in Advance: A Law Firm's Big Mistake
The surrender of a major Democratic firm to Trump is a massive mistake and will only serve to reinforce authoritarianism in the United States
If there is a resistance movement against Trump, it must be better than this. Earlier last Friday, The New York Times reported that the law firm Paul Weiss had decided to fold and accept much of the Trump administration's demands in response to a clearly targeted executive order. The move, which comes from a major democratic law firm, will only encourage the Trump administration's authoritarian attacks on his political rivals.
The attacks on rival law firms
The Trump administration has a long history of attacking its political rivals under the guise of upholding the law or some vague sense of justice. Whether it's revoking the security clearances of his political rivals and even some of his former staffers or attempting to control how protests are conducted on college campuses, Trump is not averse to attacking speech of which he disapproves. Law firms are far from immune to his vindictiveness, and Paul Weiss is not the only one whose problems have demonstrated that fact.
As I explained earlier this month:
"On Thursday, March 6th, The White House released an executive order titled “Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP” which punishes the law firm for supposed “dishonest and dangerous activity of the law firm.” The order blames the firm for supposedly attempting to “steal” the 2016 election through the Steele Dossier on behalf of Hillary Clinton. The order also requires any personnel affiliated with Perkins Coie to lose their security clearance."
The attacks on Perkins Coie, and by extension, Paul Weiss, would have robbed both law firms of their security clearance and contracts with the government, effectively breaking down their business. It shouldn't surprise anyone that Weiss and Coie are law firms associated with Democratic activists and lawyers. It is clear as day that Trump wants to punish his enemies, which makes the decision by Paul Weiss' leadership to give in so frustrating.
The deal from hell
When faced with the attacks on their firm, Paul Weiss and its leadership figured that it would be better to negotiate with Trump than to fight him.
As The New York Times reports:
"Mr. Karp, who has a long history of fund-raising for Democrats, sought to unite major law firms in “a call to arms” to fight Mr. Trump in court on issues like his administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents. He publicly said lawyers were obligated to defend the rule of law.
He hosted a “Lawyers for Biden” fund-raiser in 2023, and one of his top partners prepared Vice President Kamala Harris for her debates with Mr. Trump.
So it was not surprising that Mr. Trump targeted Paul Weiss with an executive order last week that created a potential existential threat for the firm, although the order was legally dubious and undercut fundamental principles of the justice system. In response, Mr. Karp began discussions with another big firm about presenting a unified and bipartisan front and challenging the order in court.
But on Wednesday, Mr. Karp walked into the Oval Office around 8:30 a.m., leaving behind the adversarial approach.
Now, he wanted to make a deal.
A day later, Mr. Trump announced that Mr. Karp had agreed to pledge $40 million in pro bono legal services to issues the president has championed, including a task force being run by the Justice Department aimed at combating antisemitism “and other mutually agreed projects.”
The White House said the firm had committed to stop using diversity, equity and inclusion policies. And Mr. Trump said Mr. Karp had acknowledged to him that a former partner of the firm who had worked as a prosecutor in Manhattan and had pushed for Mr. Trump to be charged criminally had committed “wrongdoing.” These assertions appear inconsistent with a copy of the statement that Mr. Karp shared with his firm.
In deciding to bend to Mr. Trump, Mr. Karp likely saved his law firm, which had $2.63 billion in revenue last year and represents corporate clients like Exxon Mobil and Apollo Global Management, from hemorrhaging clients and lawyers."
While likely benefiting the firm's short-term safety, this decision is a mistake. It sends the message that the United States government, under the authoritarian hand of a convicted felon, can use the administration's powers to target its political opponents and get what it wants. That is an unacceptable outcome.
Suppose the administration can explicitly retaliate against firms for partisan purposes and compel them to act according to those partisan ends. In that case, nobody is safe from being controlled by Trump's partisan agenda. Paul Weiss' decision to fold only reinforces Trump's belief in his ill-gotten authority. It does us all a disservice. One can only hope other firms won't make that same mistake.
References
Kelly, Conor. 2023. “Trump Is Attacking Law Firms He Doesn’t Like.” The Progressive American with Conor Kelly. https://www.progressiveamerican.net/p/trump-is-attacking-law-firms-he-doesnt (March 23, 2025).
McCreesh, Shawn. 2025. “Trump Revokes Security Clearances for Biden, Harris, Clinton and More.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/us/politics/trump-security-clearances-biden-harris-clinton.html (March 23, 2025).
Pazmino, Gloria. “Mahmoud Khalil: Federal Judge Orders Palestinian Activist’s Case to Be Moved to New Jersey | CNN.” CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/19/us/mahmoud-khalil-palestinian-activist-trump/index.html (March 23, 2025).
Scarcella, Mike et al., 2025. “Law Firm Paul Weiss Defends Deal with Trump as Lawyers Sound Alarm.” Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/legal/trumps-deal-with-law-firm-paul-weiss-sparks-alarm-among-lawyers-2025-03-21/ (March 23, 2025).
Schmidt, Michael S. et al., “How a Major Democratic Law Firm Ended Up Bowing to Trump.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/us/politics/paul-weiss-trump.html (March 23, 2025).
Suter, Tara. 2025. “Trump Explains Why He Revoked Bolton’s Security Clearance.” The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5099407-trump-explains-why-he-revoked-boltons-security-clearance/ (March 23, 2025).
Weiser, Benjamin. 2025. “What to Know About Paul Weiss, the Law Firm Bowing to Trump’s Demands.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/what-is-paul-weiss.html (March 23, 2025).