Author’s update: This article first appeared at Crain’s Chicago Business on April 9, 2025. Since then, five more Big Law firms have capitulated to Trump’s unconstitutional demands: Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft agreed to do free legal work on causes the White House supports, including those with “conservative ideals.”
Combined with the firms that have previously bent their knees to Trump, those five recent Big Law cowards now bring Trump’s war chest to $940 million in pro bono that some of the best attorneys in the country must now provide for Trump-approved causes. Trump himself gave two examples: working on trade and coal-leasing deals.
Another firm – Susman Godfrey – has joined the ranks of those who have challenged Trump’s unlawful edit. Munger, Tolles & Olson is representing that firm.
Above the Law is tracking all of the top 200 firms. Here’s that link: https://abovethelaw.com/2025/04/biglaw-is-under-attack-heres-what-the-firms-are-doing-about-it/
I suspect that law students will view it with great interest, as they should.
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The nation’s biggest law firms are trying to avoid a confrontation with a rogue president’s unconstitutional demands. They can run, but they can’t hide.
Three firms have fought back. More than 500 others signed a legal brief opposing Trump’s executive orders targeting Big Law – the profession’s biggest and most lucrative firms. But only 10 of the top 100 revenue-generating firms joined. None of the top 20 stepped up, including the firm where I practiced for almost 30 years, Kirkland & Ellis.
None.
I understand the conspicuous silence at the financial pinnacle of the profession. With partners earning multimillion dollar incomes, money is the glue that holds them together. They have the resources to resist, but can’t escape the clutches of their own greed.
Their business models are fragile because partners have created portable client silos. If partners leave, they can take those clients with them and firm profits will suffer. If enough lawyers leave, the institution can unravel quickly.
With a myopic focus on partner profits, firm leaders don’t see the big picture: Appeasement doesn’t deter bullies; it empowers them. Most Big Law partners have also forgotten why they went to law school in the first place, along with their sworn oaths to defend the Constitution and the rule of law.
[To continue reading, please click here to reach my Substack page. (No paywall)]: https://open.substack.com/pub/stevenjharper/p/this-is-the-legal-professions-mccarthy?r=1tno6t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
The Belly of the Beast 