Perkins Coie Hires Williams & Connolly Lawyers to Fight Trump

Law firm Perkins Coie has tapped attorneys at Williams & Connolly to fight President Donald Trump over an executive order threatening its client relationships.

Perkins Coie turned to the elite DC firm after Trump issued the March 6 order, according to a source familiar with the situation. Williams & Connolly is known for its scorched earth approach to taking on the Justice Department on behalf of political and other clients.

The lawyers—the individual attorneys involved have not been identified—will help Perkins Coie fight a Trump order requiring government contractors to disclose relationships with the firm and threatening to strip them of their federal business. It also suspends Perkins Coie attorneys’ security clearances and bars them from entering federal government buildings.

Trump accused Perkins Coie of “weaponization against a political opponent” during the 2016 presidential campaign. Lawyers at the firm advised Hillary Clinton and retained Washington firm Fusion GPS for research that resulted in the so-called Steele dossier, which alleged Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russian government officials. Perkins Coie called the order “patently unlawful” after it was issued March 6.

The New York Times first reported the representation on Monday. A Perkins Coie spokesperson declined to comment, and representatives of Williams & Connolly did not immediately respond to comment requests.

Williams & Connolly lawyers frequently go toe-to-toe with the federal government. The firm represented Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes when federal prosecutors brought charges of wire fraud in California. Its lawyers also advised a former Wells Fargo executive who in 2023 avoided prison for her role in the bank’s false accounts scandal.

Trump issued the Perkins Coie order less than two weeks after targeting Covington & Burling over the Big Law firm’s work representing Special Counsel Jack Smith.