Faced with the threat by President Donald Trump of potentially ruinous executive orders, five of the largest and most profitable corporate law firms in the U.S. — including four that have large operations in Texas — reached settlement agreements Friday with the White House that require them to allow an independent outside counsel to monitor their recruiting and hiring practices for possible discriminatory efforts.
Should Law Firms Settle or Fight Trump’s EOs? Readers Respond in a Texas Lawbook Online Forum: Sally Helppie, Attorney (Dallas-Fort Worth)
Large corporate law firms have faced unprecedented actions, including presidential executive orders targeting them and more. The Texas Lawbook established an open forum for lawyers, general counsel, law professors and judges to provide substantive responses to seven questions in an online survey. We’re publishing the individual responses from our readers.
Updated — Susman Godfrey Vows to Fight Trump Executive Order, Simultaneously Scores Win in Billion-Dollar 2020 Presidential Election Defamation Case
The Texas litigation powerhouse Susman Godfrey said Thursday morning that it will fight President Donald Trump’s executive order signed Wednesday that accuses the Houston-based law firm of “egregious conduct and conflicts of interest” and representing “clients that engage in conduct undermining critical American interests and priorities.” The president’s EO came the same day that a Delaware judge gave lawyers for Susman Godfrey and their client, Dominion Voting Systems, a huge court victory against Newsmax Media in a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit related to the 2020 presidential election. Last week, Susman Godfrey joined an amicus brief that accuses President Trump of illegally using executive orders to punish law firms who represent clients or causes that he opposes.
In a First, Texas A&M School of Law Cracks U.S. News Top 25
The school’s No. 22 ranking, four spots up from a year ago, places it behind only the University of Texas at Austin School of Law among the state’s law schools. Chancellor John Sharp of the Texas A&M University System says the school is headed for the top 10.
Nine Texas Litigation Firms Sign Amicus Brief in Opposition to Presidential EOs
Stating that their “abiding commitment to preserving the integrity of the American legal system leaves us no choice,” 504 law firms across the U.S. signed an amicus brief Friday supporting the corporate law firm Perkins Coie in its battle for survival against the Trump administration. Of those 504 law firms supporting Perkins Coie, only nine are based in Texas and not a single law firm with a corporate transactional practice signed the brief. The firms include Yetter Coleman, Susman Godfrey, Graves Dougherty, Nachawati Law Group, Aldous Law, Crain Brogdon and Waters Kraus.
Texas Law Professors Join Amicus Brief in Support of Perkins Coie Challenge to Trump Executive Order
More than a dozen professors from Texas law schools joined an amicus brief in support of Perkins Coie’s challenge to President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order targeting the firm. The president’s executive order is unconstitutional and poses a grave threat to the rule of law, the professors argue.
Texas AG Sends Piggyback Demands to Law Firms on DEI Info
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a two-page letter to 20 large corporate law firms — 13 with operations in Texas — seeking information about their diversity and inclusion initiatives related to their hiring and promotion efforts that Paxton alleges may have violated state and federal laws regarding discrimination.
UPDATED: Texas Lawyers Stay Silent on Trump’s Targeting More Law Firms
Even as two large corporate law firms filed constitutional lawsuits against President Donald Trump on Friday to stop his executive orders targeting law firms from taking effect, Texas lawyers — who love to brag that they, like everything else in Texas, are bigger and braver and never back away from a fight — have remained extraordinarily quiet. Out of nearly a thousand lawyers from bar associations, law schools and law firms that signed letters this week decrying the Trump administration’s targeting of corporate law firms, only two attorneys and one organization were from Texas. The Texas Lawbook has an in-depth update on the White House’s battle against corporate law firms, including mega-firm Skadden Arps’ new settlement agreement with President Trump.
Texas Lawbook Online Forum: How Should Lawyers, Firms and GCs Respond to President Trump’s Challenges?
Large corporate law firms have faced unprecedented actions by a presidential administration during the past two weeks, including five presidential executive orders targeting five law firms, a presidential memorandum directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to “review conduct” by lawyers and firms who engage in “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation” against the U.S. government and demand letters sent by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission targeting 20 law firms — 13 of them operating in Texas — seeking their policies and activities regarding diversity and inclusion. The Texas Lawbook seeks your insight and commentary regarding how law firms and the legal profession should respond.
Paul Weiss: Competitor Law Firms Came for Our Clients, Not to Help Us
The chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison — a global corporate law firm that has been working to open an office in Houston — said in a memo to its lawyers Sunday that he tried to get other large law firms to join together to fight against the Trump administration’s attacks on his firm and other law firms, but none did. “Disappointingly, far from support, we learned that certain other firms were seeking to exploit our vulnerabilities by aggressively soliciting our clients and recruiting our attorneys,” Brad Karp wrote in a 1,620-word letter, which was first obtained and published by The American Lawyer. The firm counts Texas energy giants Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Noble Corp. as major clients. The firm is currently the lead legal advisor for Party City in its bankruptcy case in Houston.