Biglaw Firms In League With Donald Trump Now Have To Defend Cops That Kill Black And Brown People

Donald Trump’s aggressive and questionable use of Executive Orders to turn the country into a far-right hellscape continues. Last night, he signed an EO that ramps up the police state — targeting sanctuary cities that have refused to go along with Trump’s vision on immigration. Specifically, the EO seeks to use the military to run point on domestic law enforcement (Posse Comitatus Act, be damned!) and insulate police officers from legal consequences (because I guess qualified immunity isn’t enough). It’s some dystopian shit.

But thanks to the cowardly capitulation of multiple firms, this is also a Biglaw story.

The EO specifically provides the following:

The Attorney General shall take all appropriate action to create a mechanism to provide legal resources and indemnification to law enforcement officers who unjustly incur expenses and liabilities for actions taken during the performance of their official duties to enforce the law. This mechanism shall include the use of private-sector pro bono assistance for such law enforcement officers.

So… the Biglaw firms that inked deals with Trump (Paul Weiss, Kirkland, Latham, Skadden, Milbank, Willkie, Simpson Thacher, A&O Shearman, and Cadwalader) to get out from the right-wing doghouse will be asked — or, more ominously, assigned — to work on defending police officers accused of using excessive force. Huh, it looks like providing the Trump administration with $950 million in a pro bono payola slush fund was a terrible idea. Who would have guessed, except literally everyone?

I’m sure (at least some of) the firms will try to assure the rank-and-file internally that they’ll be able to set boundaries with the Trump administration. But that’s not how appeasing a bully works! As my colleague Joe Patrice has already written about the constantly evolving terms of these deals using an elaborate Star Wars analogy that casts the cowardly Biglaw firms as Lando Calrissian:

And what are the firms gonna do about it? Other than privately mumble that “This deal is getting worse all the time!” they’re going to go along with it because they’re already pot committed at this point. Reversing course now doesn’t get them anything but an even harsher executive order that they’ve already told the whole market they don’t have the courage to fight.

These firms thought they were buying peace. What they bought was a public admission that they could be shaken down. And at every stage from here on, the terms will change. Because bullies don’t honor deals. They escalate. You give them access to a tibanna gas mine, and next thing you know, they’re freezing your friends in carbonite and conscripting you as the shadow Justice Department.

So the firms that capitulated to Trump are on a slippery slope to defending police officers — a shockingly far cry from where these same firms were in 2020. Which leaves one question lingering — what other legal work will these firms be asked, or told, to do before Trump has exhausted his $950 million war chest?

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.

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