According to five people, five unauthorized to speak publicly about private conversations, elite law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom discussed with advisers to President Trump to avoid executive orders imposed by the White House on many of its competitors.
The talks represent an extraordinary turn in Trump’s campaign for law firms and legal systems, marking what appears to be the first time a large company has attempted to reach a deal with the president before he issued an executive order. The latest orders for other law firms limit the work they can do with the federal government.
Skadden’s discussion is also the latest example of the big law firms (fear of a protracted battle with Mr. Trump) eager to make a deal.
The White House shows that more and more companies are receiving executive orders in the eyes of the president, especially those who hire lawyers to investigate or those whose careers his supporters object.
On Thursday night, Mr. Trump targeted an additional law firm and issued an executive order to suspend security permits for Wilmer Hale, a former home of Robert Mueller III, a former FBI director who served as a special lawyer on Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election and replaced Mr. Trump.
Mueller returned to Wilmer Hale after an investigation and officially left the Washington law firm in 2021.
The executive order slams the company’s hiring lawyers who “armed” the legal system, participate in “partisan representatives” and abuse its practice of providing free legal services to organizations.
“We look forward to all appropriate remedies for such illegal orders,” Wilmer Hale said in a statement.
According to the only company that was discussed with Mr. Trump’s team, multiple deals could be announced in the coming days, according to two briefings.
It is unclear how the negotiations began or whether Scadarden will reach a deal with Trump. But on Wednesday, the president hinted that such a deal could come and boasted about his record of bringing large law firms to his heels.
“They all bent over and said, ‘Sir, thank you very much’.’
A Skadden spokeswoman did not respond to several requests for comment. A White House spokesman declined to comment.
While it is unclear that Skadden has caught the White House’s attention, there are recent signs that the company may be the next one. In an article on social media platform X on Sunday, Elon Musk picked out Skadden’s work to assist in the lawsuit against right-wing media critic and political commentator Dinesh D’Souza.
“Scadarden, this needs to be stopped,” Mr. Musk wrote in his post, representing a private citizen, who said Mr. D’Souza falsely accused him of voting fraud in a documentary about the 2020 election.
The position is somewhat surprising as the lawyer from Skadden represented Mr. Musk during the 2022 acquisition of Twitter.
The discussion between Skadden and Trump advisers comes a week after another prominent law firm, Paul Weiss, and Mr. Trump, which has been widely criticized in the legal community as a brave executive order, possibly unconstitutional.
Trump’s orders to Paul Weiss have broad ties to Democrats and anti-Trump causes, and even restricted the company’s lawyers from entering government buildings.
Mr. Trump agreed to abandon the order in exchange for a commitment from Paul Weiss on behalf of clients, regardless of their political inclinations, and donated $40 million in free legal services to get Mr. Trump to advocate.
Paul Weiss’s leader says Mr Trump’s orders will weaken their business – competitors are seeking to poach some top lawyers. However, the company’s agreement seems to have inspired the president and encouraged other companies to consider making a deal on their own.
In most cases, Mr. Trump’s series of actions to law firms have been silent by industry leaders. Attorneys have been reluctant to speak out for fear of making their company a target.
In this gap, the dean of the law school and the bar association made statements condemning the president’s actions and warned the punishment of law firms because the people they represent are a serious threat to the rule of law.
On Tuesday, Jenner & Block became the latest big law firm to receive executive orders. The order, like an order against Jenner’s competitor, accused the law firm of “law”. The order also lists Jenner’s unpaid practices, claiming that the law firm “engages activities that undermine justice and American interests.”
Andrew Weissmann, a former partner of Jenner, worked closely with Mr. Mueller to investigate Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia’s first term.
Skadden also found that Mr. Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s potential interference in the 2016 election swept himself, although the issues had little connection to Mr. Trump. Mr. Muller’s investigation focuses on some of the lobbying efforts done by lawyer Skadden for the former pro-Russian government of Ukraine.
Perkins Coie is the only law firm to fight Mr. Trump under one of his executive orders – which has had some initial success.
A federal judge in Washington suggested that it was unconstitutional in an order temporarily banning Mr. Trump’s order.
“I’m sure many people in the industry are watching in horror at what Perkins Coy is going through,” said Beryl A. Howell, judge in the District of Columbia Federal District Court. “It almost made my spine chills,” she added.
On Wednesday, Judge Howell rejected the Trump administration’s motion, and she withdrew herself from the case. The motion to disqualify was a “prevalence of allusions”, she said.
Lauren Hirsch and Rob Copeland Contribution report.
