After enduring decades of comparisons to sharks and pit bulls, lawyers are earning new respect as they have rushed by the hundreds to airports to represent those affected by the controversial ban. Crowds at airports in New York and San Francisco chanted, “Let the lawyers in” during the first weekend of the ban. The ACLU received $24 million in contributions during the week after Trump signed the order – seven times what the liberal advocacy group raised in all of 2015.
“Lawyers have been the butt of jokes for many years,” said Philip Hilder, a Houston white collar defense lawyer, “but I think people realize the stakes are high.”