The Scoop
One of the US’ top law firms is scrambling to blunt an attack from the Trump administration.
Brad Karp, the chairman of Paul Weiss and one of the most powerful lawyers in New York, has been in Washington this week meeting with officials in President Donald Trump’s orbit, people familiar with the matter said, days after the White House issued an executive order revoking the security clearance of attorneys working at the firm.
Karp, people familiar with the matter said, is discussing a particular path back into the administration’s good graces: helping the White House respond to alleged instances of antisemitism that came out of the wave of campus protests last year. Trump this week ordered Columbia University to oust some academic leaders or risk its federal funding, his boldest broadside yet against a set of elite universities he feels have fostered antisemitic and otherwise “woke” cultures.
Trump’s executive order last week attacked Paul Weiss for pro bono work against Jan. 6 defendants, for employing a lawyer who later worked on the Manhattan district attorney’s investigations of Trump, and for diversity practices the White House calls “discrimination.” The order also bars Paul Weiss employees from federal buildings and federal jobs and orders federal agencies to terminate contracts with the firm.
Paul Weiss is one of a wave of powerful and well-connected institutions — a list led by universities and law firms — that have suddenly found themselves in deep trouble in Trump’s Washington, scrambling for allies and hiring lobbyists.
The details of the firm’s discussions with Trump allies are unclear, but could cast Paul Weiss, a historically Democratic-leaning shop, and Karp, a major backer of Kamala Harris’ campaign, as an arbiter in the fraught national discussion around campus politics and free speech.
A representative for Paul Weiss didn’t respond to a request for comment. A White House spokesman declined to comment.
Know More
Three law firms with ties to the Democratic Party or Trump’s political opponents — Paul Weiss, Perkins Coie, and Covington & Burling — have seen the security clearances of some or all of their lawyers suspended. Another 20 firms this week received a letter from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requesting details of their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
A federal judge last week halted parts of Trump’s order against Perkins Coie, which represented Hillary Clinton in 2016 and contracted with a firm that produced the Steele dossier, calling it an unconstitutional use of “taxpayer dollars and government resources … to pursue a personal vendetta.”
Notable
- “Lawyers might not be the most sympathetic group targeted by Trump, but they perform a foundational role in safeguarding the rule of law,” writes the Washington Post editorial board.