Trump: Going after a lot of law firms
A judge has issued a temporary block on an executive order from President Donald Trump targeting the major law firm that acted for Hillary Clinton.
US District Judge Beryl Howell granted Seattle-headquartered Perkins Coie a temporary restraining order against key parts of the order, which told officials to terminate, where possible, any government contracts with the firm or any of its clients.
The order – entitled ‘Addressing risks from Perkins Coie’ – also sought to limit the access of its staff to federal government buildings and meetings with officials.
Perkins Coie is in the top 50 largest law firms in the US and has a small London office too.
Judge Howell said its challenge was likely to ultimately prevail in court, according to Reuters. “I am sure many in the legal profession are watching in horror about what Perkins Coie is going through here,” she said at the hearing in Washington.
The attorneys general of 21 states filed an amicus brief with the court in support of Perkins Coie, saying: “[The order] is a menacing message to attorneys nationwide: unless they advance positions or represent clients favorable to the current administration, their livelihood may be at risk and their patriotism will be called into question.”
The executive order said: “The dishonest and dangerous activity of the law firm Perkins Coie LLP has affected this country for decades. Notably, in 2016 while representing failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Perkins Coie hired Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false ‘dossier’ designed to steal an election [the so-called Steele dossier].
“This egregious activity is part of a pattern. Perkins Coie has worked with activist donors including George Soros to judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election laws, including those requiring voter identification.”
It also accused Perkins Coie of racially discriminating against its own staff and against applicants.
“Perkins Coie publicly announced percentage quotas in 2019 for hiring and promotion on the basis of race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws.
“It proudly excluded applicants on the basis of race for its fellowships, and it maintained these discriminatory practices until applicants harmed by them finally sued to enforce change.”
According to another report, the judge noted that many of the lawyers who worked on the Trump-related cases have since left the firm, and the language was overly broad in targeting the firm.
In its motion for the restraining order, Perkins Coie said “the retaliatory aim of the [executive] order is intentionally obvious to the general public and the press because the very goal is to chill future lawyers from representing particular clients”.
The firm has already lost clients, lost instructions and “received worried inquiries from clients, including its largest clients, which question whether it can adequately represent them in light of the administration’s demonstrated animus”.
The motion stood up for its commitment to diversity and inclusion, and said the firm has never had quotas for hiring or promoting minorities. The lawsuit referenced in the order challenging the firm’s diversity fellowship “was quickly dismissed by the plaintiff after clarification that the program is open to all, regardless of race”.
The firm argued that the order was unconstitutional on various grounds and lay out the impact it could have: “Many of Perkins Coie’s largest clients (for example, the firm’s 15 largest clients, collectively representing over $343m in revenue in 2024, which represents almost a quarter of the firm’s revenue), or their affiliates, are known either to have, or to compete for, contracts or subcontracts with the federal government, and many of those companies are represented by the firm for legal matters completely unrelated to government-contracting matters.”
Perkins Coie managing partner Bill Malley said: “The order violates core constitutional rights, including the rights to free speech and due process.
“At the heart of the order is an unlawful attack on the freedom of all Americans to select counsel of their choice without fear of retribution or punishment from the government. We were compelled to take this action to protect our firm and our clients.”
The executive order also issued a broader direction to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to “review the practices of representative large, influential, or industry leading law firms for consistency with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including whether large law firms: reserve certain positions, such as summer associate spots, for individuals of preferred races; promote individuals on a discriminatory basis; permit client access on a discriminatory basis; or provide access to events, trainings, or travel on a discriminatory basis.”
This provision was not caught by the restraining order.
In an interview last weekend on Fox News, Mr Trump mentioned Perkins Coie, saying his administration has “a lot of law firms that we’re going to go after because they were very dishonest people”.
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