With Skadden joining Paul Weiss in bowing to Donald Trump’s effort to silence Biglaw, the White House feels duly emboldened that they can bully lawyers into looking the other way when it comes to the rule of law. As firms give in to his threats, he successfully sidelines powerful lawyers that might otherwise take the government to court when he names his horse Consul for Life or whatever is coming next month.
And so Trump has fired off another threat, this time to WilmerHale in the form of an executive order stripping their lawyers of security clearances too.
Now they’ll just have to join Signal to get access to classified documents.
WilmerHale had already been targeted by the administration’s bogus EEOC volley — and this order cites diversity as one of the reasons he’s trying to gut their government practice — but the real reason he’s hot for WilmerHale appears as the final bullet point:
WilmerHale rewarded Robert Mueller and two of his colleagues by welcoming them to the firm after they wielded the power of the Federal government to lead a partisan “investigation” against the President and others. Mueller’s investigation epitomizes the weaponization of government.
What a weird thing to be mad about because someone told me Bob Mueller’s report worked out great for Trump…
No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2019
Surely Trump wouldn’t lie about a thing like that.
The order takes away security clearances, terminates government work with the firm and bans agencies from hiring Wilmer alums “unless specifically authorized.” And it escalated the EEOC threat by laying out a future Title VII case.
Will WilmerHale take the fight to the courts like Perkins Coie or cave like Paul Weiss and Skadden? It’s March Madness time and yet somehow that’s the hottest bet going right now.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
