Alumni of Robert Mueller-linked law firm denounce 'craven surrender' to Trump over executive order [View all]

Source: Law & Crime

Mar 25th, 2025, 3:24 pm


More than 100 former associates at the powerful law firm Paul, Weiss signed onto a letter denouncing its leadership for caving to the Trump administration by cutting a deal in which Donald Trump withdrew an executive order targeting the organization in exchange for $40 million in pro bono legal work “to support the Administration’s initiatives” as well as ending any “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies, according to the president. The firm’s decision came in response to Trump’s executive order targeting the firm as he has amplified his attacks on legal professionals and organizations he believes worked on behalf of his perceived political rivals.

“During the first Trump administration, Paul, Weiss lawyers, including many of us, fought to protect civil and human rights with the firm’s support. That is why it came as a shock to find the firm at the very forefront of capitulation to the Trump administration’s bullying tactics,” states the letter, which was addressed to Chairman Brad Karp and publicly released by grassroots advocacy group Common Cause.

“We expected the firm to be a leader in standing up for the legal profession, the adversary system, and the right to counsel,” the letter says. “Instead of a ringing defense of the values of democracy, we witnessed a craven surrender to, and thus complicity in, what is perhaps the gravest threat to the independence of the legal profession since at least the days of Senator Joseph McCarthy.”

The letter was signed by 141 of the firm’s alumni and includes some attorneys who were with the firm as far back as the 1960s. Nearly one-third of the signatories joined onto the letter anonymously out of fear that including their names would lead to professional repercussions.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/gain-a-profit-by-forfeiting-its-soul-alumni-of-robert-mueller-linked-law-firm-denounce-craven-surrender-to-trump-over-executive-order/