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Two law firms targeted by President Donald Trump’s executive orders – Jenner & Block and WilmerHale – filed lawsuits Friday as the legal industry continues to grapple with the unprecedented attacks from the White House.
Both firms, which have connections to former special counsel Robert Muller, are now the second and third to sue. Perkins Coie previously went to court and obtained a temporary block on parts of the policy.
Jenner & Block — founded in Chicago but with a sizable group of attorneys in Washington working in regulatory law, litigation and congressional investigations — is among several major firms that have brought cases against the Trump administration related to social policy changes and funding from the federal government that may be lost.
In its lawsuit filed in Washington’s federal court on Friday, the firm said it believes Trump’s executive order against it is unconstitutional and meant to chill the legal work it handles.
“These efforts to single out those who sue the government, to undermine the attorney-client relationship, to deter protected speech adverse to the Administration’s policy agenda, and to punish citizens for their associations are irreconcilable with the Constitution,” lawyers representing the law firm wrote in court papers filed in Washington’s federal district court on Friday.
The firm said in the lawsuit it would likely lose corporate clients, especially those who are government contractors, if the court doesn’t step in to block the Trump policies.
“Continued refusals by federal officials to meet with Jenner lawyers, or denying Jenner lawyers access to federal agencies and buildings, would be devastating to both Jenner’s legal practice and its clients’ interests,” the firm said in its complaint.
The firm said one client heard the lawyers from Jenner won’t be allowed at a meeting with the Justice Department in which the firm is meant to represent the client. The client then wouldn’t have legal representation at the meeting or would need to find new lawyers within days.
“Partners at the Firm have spent hundreds of hours, collectively, speaking with clients about the Order and its implications,” the complaint says. Many of the firm’s largest clients, making up 40% of its revenue, the lawsuit noted, are contractors with the federal government.
“Several clients have expressed concerns about government-mandated disclosure of their relationship with the Firm to federal agencies and the impact that may have on the contractor’s own relationships with the federal government,” the lawsuit states.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, with hundreds of lawyers in DC and a long history in Washington, sued Friday as well.
The White House order limiting hiring of Wilmer attorneys to the federal government, the firm’s access to federal buildings and possible retaliation against some clients “will inevitably cause extensive, lasting damage to WilmerHale’s current and future business prospects” and its ability to represent clients that choose it, the firm wrote.
The firm was the professional home of former FBI Director and special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Trump and is now retired.
Its lawsuit was filed by Paul Clement, a former George W. Bush-era solicitor general, making the latest case the first truly bipartisan push from the legal industry to challenge Trump’s political retaliation.
“While most litigation requires discovery to unearth retaliatory motive, the Order makes no secret of its intent to punish WilmerHale for its past and current representations of clients before the Nation’s courts and for its perceived connection to the views that Mr. Mueller expressed as Special Counsel,” Clement’s team wrote in Wilmer’s lawsuit Friday.
Wilmer has employed top officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations in addition to Mueller and some of his Russia probe deputies. The firm is known for its behind-the-scenes influence in Washington, though also has a large corporate portfolio.
A judge previously found the policies for Perkins Coie that would limit the law firm’s lawyers from accessing federal building and potentially punish their corporate clients who are also government contractors likely to be unconstitutional. Jenner faces very similar restrictions now, and that judge, Beryl Howell of the DC District Court, is likely to hear Jenner & Block’s emergency complaints as well.
Five Trump executive orders borne out of political retaliation against major law firms in Washington in recent weeks have shaken the legal establishment and could reconfigure the way Washington does business, with many of the law firms targeted having deep ties to federal agencies, clientele from across corporate America, and powerful leaders from both political parties among their ranks.
The White House issued its executive order against Jenner & Block on Tuesday, and Trump and his aide remarked it was partly because of the firm having previously employed Andrew Weissmann, the Mueller investigation prosecutor-turned-TV commentator.
While bar associations have condemned Trump’s actions as a draconian rejection of the rule of law, many firms have hesitated to take a stand publicly, fearing they would become a target.
One firm, Paul, Weiss, Wharton, Rifkind & Garrison, cut a deal with Trump, and the New York Times reported on Thursday another large New York-based law firm was quietly negotiating preemptively.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
