Law Firm Cuts $100M Deal to Avoid Trump Punishment

A prominent international law firm reached a deal with President Trump on Friday to dedicate at least $100 million in free legal services and to review its hiring practices, averting a punishing executive order like the ones directed at nearly a half-dozen other major legal institutions in recent weeks. The deal with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was announced hours after two other law firms sued in federal court over executive orders that threatened the suspension of their attorneys' security clearances and their access to federal buildings, the AP reports.

The contrasting approaches reflect divisions within the legal community on whether to fight or negotiate as Trump seeks to extract major concessions from some of the world's most significant law firms and in some cases punish them over their association with prosecutors who previously investigated him. Besides Skadden Arps, another firm, Paul Weiss, has reached an agreement with the White House, a deal that prompted major backlash last week from lawyers who thought the capitulation set a bad precedent. In a message to his firm, Skadden Arps managing partner Jeremy London said the firm had learned in recent days that the Trump administration intended to issue an executive order targeting it over its pro bono legal work and its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

London said the firm negotiated with the administration in hopes of warding off an executive order. "We entered into the agreement the President announced today because, when faced with the alternatives, it became clear that it was the best path to protect our clients, our people, and our Firm," he wrote in the message, which was obtained by the AP. The two firms that sued on Friday, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, say in their complaints that the orders amount to an unprecedented assault on the legal system and represent an unconstitutional form of presidential retaliation. "Our Constitution, top to bottom, forbids attempts by the government to punish citizens and lawyers based on the clients they represent, the positions they advocate, the opinions they voice, and the people with whom they associate," said the complaint from Jenner & Block.

(More Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom stories.)