In Donald J. Trump’s quest for retribution against Big Law, nine firms immediately caved and struck deals with the co-president, collectively promising $940 million in pro bono work. However, four firms didn’t bow down to Donald: Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey. Perkins Coil, which represented Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, prevailed in court in their lawsuit against the federal government.
Via the Associated Press:
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the executive order against the firm of Perkins Coie amounted to “unconstitutional retaliation” as she ordered that it be nullified and that the Trump administration halt any enforcement of it.
“No American President,” Howell wrote in her 102-page order, “has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit targeting a prominent law firm with adverse actions to be executed by all Executive branch agencies but, in purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’”
