Big Law’s Peril From Trump Orders Is Shown in Court Filings

WilmerHale and Jenner & Block laid bare the existential risks Donald Trump’s orders pose as the law firms rushed into court to stop the president.

Trump’s directive to cut companies’ federal contracts for which WilmerHale has done work could affect 21 of the firm’s top 25 clients, the firm said in its March 28 lawsuit. The order threatens “the very viability of the firm’s business model,” WilmerHale said.

WilmerHale’s loss of clients who are contractors “would be a devastating blow,” US District Judge Richard Leon said late on March 28. “This says nothing of the potential clients who may not even consider hiring” the firm because of contract worries, he said.

Leon temporarily blocked Trump’s order against WilmerHale in part, while in a separate courtroom US District Judge John Bates for now halted the directive against Jenner & Block. The blocking actions late on March 28 follow Perkins Coie’s March 12 win of a temporary order stopping part of Trump’s directive against that firm.

Despite the temporary wins, details about the orders in the March 28 lawsuits filed by WilmerHale and Jenner & Block show the devastation the directives threaten for the firms’ bottom lines. Together the two firms collected more than $2 billion in revenue in 2023, according to the American Lawyer.

More than 40% of Jenner & Block’s revenue last year came from clients who are US contractors, subcontractors, or affiliates, the firm said in its lawsuit. “If we lost that business, or even a portion of it, it would be a serious threat to the firm’s financial health,” firm chair Thomas Perrelli said in a court filing.

Perkins Coie earlier this month described similar distress. The firm lost clients and business as a result of Trump’s order, and its top 15 customers by revenue have US contracts or ties to them, Perkins Coie said in its March 11 lawsuit.

The devastating effects spelled out in the firms’ lawsuits show why big law operations have been so quick to fight Trump’s orders. They also help explain why Paul Weiss and Skadden moved so fast to strike deals with the president.

A key question going forward for law firms facing Trump’s ire is what clients prefer they do—and whether those customers will stand by them in a fight with the president.

WilmerHale’s clients include Gilead, Comcast, T-Mobile, Elon Musk’s Tesla and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. Jenner & Block has advised clients including General Dynamics, General Motors and Uber Technologies.

“The critical question is how will the clients respond,” said Jeffrey Gordon, a professor at Columbia Law School. “It’s up to them in a certain way.”

Chilling Effect

Trump’s orders targeting law firms cut to the heart of their operations by limiting lawyers’ access to federal buildings—access they need to do their jobs—and by discouraging companies with US contracts from using the firms’ services.

WilmerHale showed how much is at stake by the lawyer it hired to battle Trump—Paul Clement, a conservative who is one of the top US Supreme Court litigators of this era.

On March 28 in arguing for the restraining order, he said Trump’s directive had an immediate chilling effect on the work of the firm. He cited the cancellation of two planned meetings with government agencies immediately following the order.

“You’re not sanctioned for the clients you represent” in “our country,” Clement said. He argued that Trump’s order violates the First Amendment.

The firm argued in its filing that the order “irreparably damages WilmerHale’s reputation and its goodwill with clients.”

The president singled out WilmerHale for its ties to Robert Mueller, the former special counsel who led a probe into the 2016 Trump campaign’s alleged coordination with Russian state officials. Trump in his order said the probe “epitomizes the weaponization of government.”

Mueller’s “affiliation with the firm can’t be undone,” Gordon said. That leaves WilmerHale with no alternative except to fight, he said.

“I don’t know that there’s a basis for settlement there in which the president gets something in exchange for relinquishing his attack,” Gordon said.

Litigation Impact

Jenner & Block said the portion of Trump’s order that restricts firm lawyers from accessing government buildings is particularly painful.

Unlike many other law firms, nearly 90% of Jenner’s attorneys focus on litigation, the firm said in a court filing. It currently has around 540 active matters pending before US courts and agencies that require access to federal buildings and officials, Perrelli said.

Part of the order barring Jenner’s lawyers from federal spaces is already being enforced, the firm said. The Justice Department told a firm client not to bring Jenner to an April 3 meeting.

Clients are already asking about how the order will hurt the firm’s ability to attend future meetings with other government agencies, according to Jenner’s filing.

“Partners at the firm have spent hundreds of hours, collectively, speaking with clients about the order and its implications,” said the firm, which is being represented by Cooley’s former litigation chair Michael Attanasio.

Like WilmerHale, Jenner expressed concern over preserving the confidentiality of attorney-client relationships.

Making Deals

While WilmerHale, Jenner & Block and Perkins Coie have sought to fight the administration, two other law firms have settled with Trump.

Manhattan-founded Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison reached a deal to rescind Trump’s executive order against the firm. Another elite New York law firm—Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom—proactively reached a deal with the Trump administration on March 28 to avoid an executive order.

“I can understand the short-term capitulation,” said Adam Badawi, law professor at the University of California at Berkeley. “But you’re putting yourself under the thumb of this administration for the next four years.”

Trump could issue another executive order if the firms do something he doesn’t like, Badawi said. However, “if you fight and get some sort of injunction, there’s probably going to be some soft ways that the administration can punish you,” he said.