Lawyers Fight Back

by Michael Steven Smith

I am 82 years old. I retired from practicing law in Manhattan seven years ago. Happily I was able to ease in to two other activities, editing and writing, and cohosting a nationally broadcast radio show “Law And Disorder“. I co-edited a book that has just come out called “From the Flag to the Cross: Fascism American Style”. (https://orbooks.com/catalog/from-the-flag-to-the-cross)

My radio program concerns, law and public policy. I recently had California attorney John Burton as a guest. I interviewed him about the catastrophe that Trump has brought down on big law firms in our country. He has bullied them into representing for free projects of his liking.

Trump and the MAGA movement behind him have taken huge steps to upend and overturn the kind of democracy, however limited by race andclass, that we have lived with since our independence from England some 250 years ago.

In order to secure their rule, these fascists, like those in the Hitler movement 90 years ago, attempted to get control of the various apparatuses of our society.

They aimed at the major media, the universities, the states like California, the scientific establishment, the medical profession, the cultural apparatus, the top brass in the military, and the big law firms.

Hitler’s fascist party in Germany called this effort “bringing it into line”. What we are going to examine is Trump’s efforts to dominate the major law firms in America. He has succeeded in dominating some, but not all of these law firms, which are known as “big law“. The resistance has been impressive and a tribute to the spirit of fairness in the American legal tradition.

What did Trump do? He told the big law firms that he would sign an executive order banning them from federal buildings, including the courthouses where they practice. Further, he would take away their security clearances and he would cancel any contracts they had with the federal government.

This was calculated to break these firms and they knew it. A target was the venerable firm of Paul Weiss, established in 1875, which was active in the civil rights movement in the 50s. It was started by a Jewish attorney, sensitive to these issues. It was with the first large firm in New York to hire Black attorneys.

It helped to win the landmark desegregation victory in “Brown versus the Board of Education”. Paul Weiss initially tried to resist. It asked others firms for help. But to no avail. The other firms refused and instead began to pick off their clients. Faced with financial ruin Paul Weiss gave in and agreed to donate millions of dollars in free legal work to projects of Trump‘s choice. So did other famous firms.

Collectively, these firms agreed to furnish Trump with over $1 billion in pro bono assistance to Trump and his projects, like defending cops in cases of police abuse and murder, as in the George Floyd case.

The battle Trump started is not over. Four judges have ruled against him. 24 friend of the court amicus briefs have been filed. 1000 law firms have come on board on board.

The “No Kings Day” demonstrations on June 15 thwere the biggest America has ever seen. At least 5 million people. Many people, my age, and many many young people, Things are changing. The fightback fair minded attorneys have waged against Trump‘s bullying is but one example.