President Trump on Thursday directed his sons to fire an outside ethics counsel for the family business because the lawyer also represents Harvard University, one of Mr. Trump’s targets in his crackdown on the nation’s top colleges. In a social media post, Mr. Trump said the lawyer, William A. Burck, should go because of his…
Five more prominent law firms facing potential punitive action by President Trump reached deals on Friday with the White House to provide a total of $600 million in free legal services to causes supported by the president. Four of the firms — Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, A&O Shearman and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett…
President Trump is planning to announce new deals with several of the nation’s top law firms requiring them to offer legal support for some of his favored causes, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr. Trump said four or five firms would reach deals with the administration,…
Two big law firms that have come under attack by the Trump administration filed court papers on Tuesday seeking to permanently block executive orders that threaten their businesses and ability to represent clients in matters involving the federal government. The firms, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, filed the papers in federal court in Washington a…
In his attacks on law firms, universities and other American institutions, President Trump is relying on an illusion. The illusion is that the institutions are powerless to fight back and that they face a choice between principle and survival. These institutions do not have to capitulate to Mr. Trump. They have a realistic path to…
It is a cornerstone of American democracy, enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution: People have the right to challenge the actions of their leaders. Countless citizens, companies and others have exercised that right by filing lawsuits against the U.S. government. This has been happening for more than 200 years. But the barrage of…
The nation’s legal profession is being split between those that want to fight back against President Trump’s attacks on the industry and those that prefer to engage in the art of the deal. Two big firms sued the Trump administration on Friday, seeking to stop executive orders that could impair their ability to represent clients….
The elite law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has had discussions with President Trump’s advisers about a deal to avert the type of executive order that the White House has been imposing on many of its competitors, according to five people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about…
President Trump’s executive order attacking Paul Weiss and severely restricting that law firm’s ability to represent its clients was widely seen by lawyers as a dangerous affront to the nation’s legal system. To rivals of Paul Weiss, it was an opportunity. Within days of Mr. Trump’s March 14 order, some of the biggest competitors were…
Last week, a federal judge in Washington ruled that a subsequent executive order Mr. Trump signed targeting the law firm Perkins Coie, which is also aligned with Democrats, was likely unconstitutional and issued a restraining order halting it. But two days later, Mr. Trump signed a nearly identical executive order against Paul, Weiss. Mr. Trump…