Cadwalader Looks to Fight Criminal Appeals to Meet Trump Pledge

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, which has done pro bono work for criminal defendants, aims to help the Brooklyn District Attorney defend convictions as a way to satisfy a pledge to President Donald Trump for free legal services.

The oldest Wall Street law firm plans to make the offer for the appeals work and any other assistance needed to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, said Nicholas Gravante, co-chair of Cadwalader’s global litigation group, in an interview. The partnership would be a win-win, he said—the firm would fulfill Trump obligations of supporting conservative causes while giving junior lawyers experience in criminal appeals.

“If we can deploy some talented attorneys to assist Eric in that office, that is something I am confident would be viewed as meeting the obligations,” Gravante said. “If our associates had the experience making the argument on the brief, that would be beneficial to the young lawyers. For some, that might be the first appeal they argue.”

Gravante’s comments provide the first indication of how one of the nine law firms that struck deals with Trump to provide $940 million in free legal services plans to fulfill the obligation. The firms struck agreements mostly to avoid punitive executive orders, which four other legal operations have fought in court.

But Cadwalader, founded the year George Washington won election to a second term, faces a steeper climb than the other eight firms to fulfill its $100 million commitment to the president.

The firm is the smallest of the nine that made deals, generating $638 million in revenue in 2024, according to American Lawyer data. The next smallest, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, had almost three times as much revenue, at $1.8 billion, and the largest, Kirkland & Ellis, had $8.8 billion.

Cadwalader’s size means it has the most restricted pro bono budget. Each of the firm’s lawyers spent an average of about 13 hours on pro bono work in 2023, according to American Lawyer data. That compares with 37 at Kirkland, 78 at Willkie and 115 at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Cadwalader’s pro bono work last year totaled just $5 million. Even if the firm devoted the entirety of that amount to Trump-approved causes, it would take 20 years to fulfill its $100 million obligation. Gravante said the firm is prepared to take that amount of time if necessary.

Trump’s April 11 Truth Social post said the $100 million in free legal services could be achieved “during the Trump administration and beyond.” Assuming the firm has flexibility in the time they need to fulfill the commitment, it can feasibly meet its obligations, said law firm consultant Joe Altonji, founding principal of LawVision.

But New York Law School professor Rebecca Roiphe said the vague terms of Trump’s Big Law deals set the firms up for conflict with the White House.

“If the law firms disobey an agreement they’ve engaged in, the administration can come after them again,” Roiphe said. “If the president starts to say that these lawyers are required to draft lease agreements for coal companies or work for the DOJ, at some point the firms are going to have to stand up and say something.”

Type of Work

The pro bono plan by Gravante, a high-profile trial lawyer, appears to fit some categories Trump listed as being eligible for the work—aiding law enforcement and justice system fairness, according to an April 11 Truth Social post.

But Gravante hasn’t run the idea by the White House, which ultimately will need to agree that the work satisfies the agreement. “I don’t know of an approval process but I’m confident they would see it the same way,” he said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gravante also hasn’t run his idea by Gonzalez. He said he will call the district attorney after the conclusion of his trial in San Francisco, where Gravante is representing Rumble in an antitrust suit against Google.

Gonzalez’s office in a statement didn’t say whether it would accept Gravante’s offer, though it added, “For decades, attorneys from some of the nation’s most prominent firms have seconded attorneys to our office.”

Gravante, a former Boies Schiller Flexner co-managing partner, has connections to Trump world that boosts prospects for the acceptance of his pro bono plan. He represented Allen Weisselberg, who oversaw the finances at Trump’s companies for decades and who was sentenced in 2023 to five months in jail for tax fraud.

Trump’s Agenda

Cadwalader has taken on some causes that align with Trump’s agenda. Its Veterans Life Planning Clinic provides those who served in the military with free support for preparing wills and other documents.

Cadwalader has also engaged in behavior that has prompted Trump’s ire with law firms. Its leaders balked at allowing then partner Todd Blanche to represent Trump because of his political volatility, compelling the attorney to leave and start his own practice, two people familiar with the matter said.

Blanche represented Trump in a New York state court trial last year that resulted in a conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Blanche was confirmed as Trump’s deputy attorney general in March.

Gravante has represented former President Joe Biden’s son and brother, Hunter and James Biden, in a lawsuit brought by a former business partner alleging the two perpetrated complex financial fraud in connection with their purchase of hedge funds.

Pro Bono Causes

Gravante said the agreement with Trump doesn’t restrict the firm from taking on any matters that are adverse to the administration. If Harvard University came to the firm asking for legal representation in its lawsuit against Trump, he said he’d advocate the firm take it on, “as long as the management committee would be OK with it.”

Some of Cadwalader’s pro bono causes do run counter to Trump. The firm partners with Legal Services NYC to provide free legal name change services to low-income transgender people, according to the Cadwalader’s annual pro bono report from last year.

The firm in 2015 launched the Cadwalader Black and Latino Association Immigration Clinic, which helps immigrants obtain legal status through asylum applications. In 2022, lawyers at the firm secured the release of Lamar Redfern, a Charlotte, North Carolina native who was 21 years into a 58-year sentence for three convictions for displaying a firearm while committing a felony.

Some lawyers at the firm have been unhappy with the firm’s decision to bow to Trump in the face of punitive threats, with partners Phara Guberman and Kenneth Breen leaving in part because of the deal, following the departure of counsel J.B. Howard, former deputy attorney general for Maryland, Bloomberg Law previously reported.

The deal doesn’t require the firm to force anyone to take on pro bono causes they disagree with, Gravante said. There are enough conservative lawyers to take on causes that fulfill the firm’s obligations, he said.

“The composition of pro bono work may change because we will encourage people to do pro bono work for more conservative causes,” Gravante said. “If we were doing work for criminal defendants who could not afford representation to ease the burden on legal aid societies, now we’d be doing it for the district attorney’s office.”