Another Law Firm Bends The Knee To Trump (UPDATED)

 

Another white shoe law firm shows its colors (yellow) in bending the knee to the Malignant Fascist's extortion:

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP preemptively cut a deal with the administration to ward off the potential threat of an executive order targeting the firm.

The deal requires the firm to provide $100 million in pro bono services to the Trump administration, Trump said during a White House appearance. A spokesperson for Skadden did not immediately respond to a request for comment or confirmation on the deal.

Skadden joins the New York powerhouse firm Paul Weiss in choosing to surrender to the Trump administration amid threats to their ability to access government contracts and maintain clients with such contracts. Unlike the situation with Paul Weiss, Trump did not even need to issue an executive order to get the firm to bend the knee.

Three other firms targeted by Trump — Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block — have filed lawsuits challenging the orders targeting them. A federal district court judge already placed a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s actions against Perkins Coie, saying that it “sent little chills down my spine.”

It isn’t clear why Skadden chose to seek out a deal with Trump, which The New York Times reported about on Thursday. There was no public indication that the firm would be targeted by an executive order. Billionaire White House adviser Elon Musk had singled out the firm on social media on Sunday for previously working on a case against conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza. But that’s it.

The firm’s decision to voluntarily submit to Trump comes amid rising attacks from his administration on the legal profession. He has targeted five law firms with executive orders seeking to cripple their businesses, retracted security clearances from other lawyers, and issued an executive order that purports to allow the Department of Justice to disqualify individual lawyers or firms from cases challenging the administration.

This new deal also seems to up the stakes for other firms facing Trump’s threats. Paul Weiss agreed to provide $40 million in pro bono services when it surrendered. Now, Skadden has promised $100 million in services. The tribute price has gone up 150%... (our emphasis)

Maybe we should start referring to these as "yellow shoe" law firms.

When we posted about the Paul Weiss extortion and capitulation, a commenter made a good point about what "pro bono" legal work could entail:

Free representation and fighting for the idiot's cause sounds good. Then again the old joke about the USSR comes to mind: 'We pretend to work and they pretend of pay us'.

Coerced work is not necessarily approached with the same zeal, enthusiasm, efficiency and attention to detail as work voluntarily undertaken.

And nobody can waste time, money, and effort as efficiently as a lawyer if they put their mind to it.

Play their cards right and that $40M might represent a very few days creatively and gratuitously wasted by a team of law clerks. Nothing says that an inter-office memo has to go directly down the hall. It might by routed through Albuquerque.

Point here is that a lack of enthusiasm and inefficiency, like stupidity, has no bottom. You get what you pay for. This is a freebie. It seems unlikely that this will be their best work.

That could, or could not apply here as well.  We can only hope it does, because it would be the only saving grace.

In the end, we think the most important point for the Malignant Fascist is that the intimidation worked, and that the value of the services promised is almost secondary (although he would certainly gain great satisfaction from turning his compromised counselors against attorneys in their firms who somehow "wronged him" by pursuing his lawlessness).  He loves his "power moves" and will take any opportunity to display them against his antagonists, past or present.  It's the mark of a sociopathic authoritarian who seeks domination and unquestioning obedience.  

Skadden just obeyed whereas others are fighting.  As someone recently remarked, "If they won't fight for themselves, why expect them to fight for you?"

UPDATE:  

Federal judges have partially blocked Trump's executive orders targeting two major law firms — Jenner & Block and WilmerHale — saying the firms are likely to succeed on their claims that the orders violate the First Amendment. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

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— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) March 29, 2025 at 8:40 AM

 

Guess Skadden isn't conversant with the First Amendment.

 

Extortion Successful, Law Firm Caves

One of the vengeful Malignant Fascist's more mundane crimes is the use of his position to extort concessions from his adversaries. The first example of this was his "perfect call" to Ukraine's President Zalenskyy in 2019 demanding he get dirt on the Bidens in exchange for vital military aid, which resulted in his first impeachment.

Lately, the mob boss posing as President has been targeting law firms that have had the Constitutional audacity to represent or hire people that the MF sees as his enemies, threatening to take their security clearances away and to cancel any government contracts with them. We noted his attack on the law firm of Perkins, Coie which represented Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, a firm that's taken the MF to court. Unfortunately, the MF's extortion has apparently worked on the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, which at one time employed Mark Pommerantz who investigated the MF's shady finances prior to him becoming President. From the Associated Press:

"President Donald Trump on Thursday rescinded an executive order targeting a prominent international law firm after it pledged to review its hiring practices and to provide tens of millions of dollars in free legal services to support certain White House initiatives.

The move follows a meeting between Trump and Brad Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Garrison & Wharton, over the White House order issued last week. [snip]

To avoid those consequences, the White House said Paul, Weiss had agreed to 'take on a wide range of pro bono matters that represent the full spectrum of political viewpoints of our society,' to disavow the use of diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in its hiring and promotion decisions and to dedicate the equivalent of $40 million in free legal services to support Trump administration policies on issues including assistance for veterans and countering anti-Semitism."  (our emphasis)

Bending the knee to the MF emboldens him and convinces him that his extortion will succeed with others, as well it might. These attacks on law firms that have represented clients and issues which the MF disagrees with should be opposed immediately by law firms and their representative associations. Otherwise, he'll pick you off one by one.

BONUS:  Social media, now --

Paul Weiss: "Fight for you? Oh, honey, we don't even fight for ourselves!"

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 10:51 PM

 

Paul Weiss is the Marco Rubio of law firms.

— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 9:58 PM

 

Paul Weiss, pathetic. Stop doing business with this law firm, folks. Reward people and organizations that stand strong and don't bend the knee. www.semafor.com/article/03/1...

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— Wajahat Ali (@wajali.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 11:13 PM