'Daily public spanking': Lawyers critical of Trump's handling of top firms fight back

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

May 18, 2025 10:30AM ET


Above the Law — a combative legal news site known for breaking stories about law firm bonuses and offering sharp, irreverent takes on the legal world — has evolved into a rallying point for attorneys critical of President Donald Trump's influence over their profession, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Since Trump's efforts to retaliate against prominent law firms for representing clients or causes he disapproves of, the site has become a platform for lawyers outraged by firms that have chosen to align with him.

"Fueled by a stream of inside-the-conference-room exclusives, Above the Law delivers a daily public spanking to what it calls 'The Yellow-Bellied Nine.' Those are the elite firms who pledged a collective $1 billion in free legal work to Mr. Trump after he signed executive orders threatening to bar their lawyers from federal buildings, suspend their security clearances and cancel their government contracts," the piece noted.

According to Above the Law, the firms “folded like a damp cocktail napkin” to Trump's demands for “pro bono payola.” Kevin Carroll, a Washington lawyer who once worked at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, told the Times: “For demoralized people stuck inside these firms, I think this is catharsis." “I’ve always wondered,” Carroll said, “when pressed, would rich liberal lawyers choose to stay rich or liberal? Now we know.”

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/daily-public-spanking-lawyers-critical-of-trump-s-handling-of-top-firms-fight-back/

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Link to website - ABOVE THE LAW

(NYT article referenced - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/us/politics/law-firms-trump-above-the-law.html)

[IA8IT]

1. If Big Law stood with Paul Weiss for a New York minute instead feasting on the wounded....

Deal with the devil you get pain and death
Link opens to all. I hope
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/business/paul-weiss-trump-deal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IU8.eUFq.yF2y4DSfcwk1&smid=url-share


To rivals of Paul Weiss, it was an opportunity.

Within days of Mr. Trump’s March 14 order, some of the biggest competitors were calling top lawyers at the beleaguered law firm — one of the nation’s most prestigious — asking if they wanted to jump ship along with their lucrative clients.

Several firms, including Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis, were looking to exploit the moment, according to five lawyers with direct knowledge of the poaching. All the lawyers interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to talk about discussions that were supposed to remain private.

Another law firm, Perkins Coie, received a similar order, but decided to challenge it in court. At first, Paul Weiss hoped to create a unified front with other big law firms to challenge the order issued against it, too. But the threat of losing its top lawyers compounded worries that clients would flee.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. And there is this

US lawyers set up own firms to lead legal fightback in face of Trump onslaught


Sam Levine in New York
Sun 18 May 2025 07.00 EDT
Last modified on Sun 18 May 2025 11.58 EDT


As Donald Trump wages a blunt attack on major law firms and the justice department, some lawyers are starting their own law firms and challenging the administration’s effort to cut funding and punish civil servants. The decision to start the firms come as the judiciary has emerged as a major bulwark against the Trump administration. More than 200 lawsuits have been filed challenging various Trump administration policies. And there have been more than 70 rulings blocking the administration from executing various policies.

Daniel Jacobson thought the knowledge of niche rules governing administrative and funding laws he had accumulated as general counsel in the office of management and budget during Joe Biden’s administration would be “totally useless” in normal times. But when the Trump administration quickly began mass cuts in funding for agencies, programs and groups he saw a “gap in the market”. Many of the groups affected by the cuts were organizations that could not afford to pay major law firms steep legal fees.

Jacobson, a former associate at Arnold & Porter, thought his specialized knowledge combined with his litigation experience could help. He started his own firm in February. Jacobson’s decision came as many firms have been wary of taking on pro-bono work challenging the administration’s interests. As Trump has directed punishing executive orders at firms that challenged him, several of the country’s largest and most prestigious law firms have reached agreements in which they have agreed to provide pro-bono legal services that align with both the firm and the Trump administration’s interests.

Jacobson’s firm already has five cases, including ones to block efforts to dismantle the National Endowment for the Humanities and an office of management and budget page tracking appropriations. The firm is now staffed with six attorneys who previously served as lawyers in various government agencies, including the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the federal programs bench of the justice department, which defends the executive branch and agencies in civil litigation.

(snip)

(ETA - among the "gutted" from the federal government - many have been lawyers as every agency has some sort of legal group, although most agencies eventually use DOJ as their "law firm" to deal with criminal and civil court filings, seizures, injunction, TROs, etc)

[IA8IT]

3. Good News!! Pry open every weak seam deflate the gas bag