Lawfare Firms Furious Over DOJ Magic

Letter to Romans: There’s a less understood Epic Fury II campaign going on in the Swamp involving the Trump Administration vs the wealthiest US law firms. Think how DOJ sought to enforce sanctions against several of the "biased" elite firms, took them back, then, reversed course again.

Exhibit A is the WSJ story titled, “Justice Dept. Makes Abrupt Reversal on Law Firm Sanctions.” The editors noticed the “Decision comes less than a day after the Trump administration told a court it was dropping appeals of four lower-court cases.” Those sanction cases involve Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Perkins Coie & Susman Godfrey and they are really pissed at the “unexplained request to withdraw yesterday’s voluntary dismissal …” Only a day earlier, they had issued press releases declaring vindication & bemoaning Trump’s alleged “overreach.” Said Dennis Fan, associate prof at Columbia Law School, the abrupt change of heart by the DOJ was highly unusual & indicated “some level of palace intrigue.”

While none of these firms that chose to litigate rather than “deal” with Mr. Trump’s DOJ are THE wealthiest multi-billion-dollar rain making firms in America, they are surely rich enough & highly ranked annually in The American Lawyer 100 and/or the National Law Journal’s 250. And while the very richest law firms … including familiar names like No. 1 Kirkland & Ellis (netting nearly $9 billion a year) & Latham & Watkins (about $7 billion a year) may not be in court right now, they also know what’s at stake for the entire high end of their profession. They know the “Fab Four” are somewhat pawns in taking on the DOJ over No. 47’s executive order stripping targeted law firms like themselves of their security clearances, access to federal buildings & ending federal agency contracts with them. They all grasp & fear the precedent that could be set here, one that, the WSJ suggests, “would be devastating to their businesses.” What's all the fuss really about? At issue is whether these accused firms profited by working too diligently to weaponize the justice system & undermine the Trump Administrations. Most do make a lot of money on lawfare gigs. But then, what else is new in the Swamp?

Davd Soul