Freshfields only large firm to sign on in support of legal fight against Donald Trump

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Freshfields US was the only top 20 law firm to sign on to a legal brief supporting the efforts of Perkins Coie to contest an executive order from Donald Trump banning it from federal government business and properties.

The brief, which was filed with a Washington, DC federal court where Perkins has sued the Trump administration, included more than 500 firms as signatories. However, nearly all of the roster was comprised of small and medium-sized firms, and many focused on litigation practices. The biggest US corporate law firms have large transactional practices that could face retaliation from the Trump administration.

Perkins has already won a restraining order blocking the Trump action while the case is proceeding through federal court. The brief has been filed in that case as it seeks to make the injunction permanent.

The Financial Times previously reported Munger, Tolles & Olson, the powerhouse Los Angeles boutique that prepared the brief, had difficulty rallying large firms to publicly back Perkins. As of last weekend, no top 20 US law firms by revenue rankings collected by The American Lawyer magazine had pledged “unconditional support” to the brief, with only three of the top 100 also on board at the time.

Freshfields, a UK-based firm with a burgeoning US corporate practice, did not respond to request for comment.

The brief described the executive order against Perkins as unconstitutional and said “any controversial representation challenging actions of the current administration (or even causes it disfavours) now brings with it the risk of devastating retaliation. Whatever short-term advantage an administration may gain from exercising power in this way, the rule of law cannot long endure in the climate of fear that such actions create.”

The Silicon Valley-based Fenwick and West, the 67th-largest firm in the American Lawyer US rankings, also signed the brief. Fenwick, which counts many large technology companies as top clients, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several firms that have faced their own executive orders also put their names behind the document, including WilmerHale, Covington & Burling and Jenner & Block. Wilmer and Jenner have also sued and won subsequent restraining orders against the Trump administration.

Wall Street powerhouses, including Paul Weiss, Skadden, Willkie Farr and Gallagher, and Milbank each settled with existing or anticipated executive orders targeting them, collectively pledging more than $300mn in legal services towards causes the Trump administration supports.

Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins and Simpson Thacher were close to settlements with the Trump administration, according to people directly familiar with matter.

As firms have made uncomfortable peace with Trump, some junior associates and alumni of those groups have taken to social media and public letters to condemn what they perceive as short-sighted surrenders.

Beth Wilkinson, a former star litigator at Paul Weiss who now has her own Washington DC boutique, was among the signatories to the Perkins brief.

“Whether it is difficult or easy, our firm has always stood up for the rights of individuals and corporations, and against over-reach by the government,” she told the Financial Times. “Today is no different.”