Trump's Attack on Big Law

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The White House is waging a pressure campaign against some of the country’s most prominent law firms. WSJ’s Erin Mulvaney on how the firm Paul, Weiss came to the decision to make a deal with President Trump. Further Reading: -Trump Signs Order Targeting Law Firm Jenner & Block -Law Firms Scramble to Avoid Being Trump’s Next Target -Why Law Firm Paul Weiss Pleaded Its Case With Trump, and Not With a Court Further Listening: -Trump 2.0: A Showdown With the Judiciary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Earlier this month on Fox News, President Donald Trump announced a new plan.
0:11.3	We have a lot of law firms that were going to be going after because they were very dishonest people.
0:18.1	They were very, very dishonest.
0:19.4	His plan is to go after big law firms.
0:25.0	The president signed a memo, suspending the active security clearances of lawyers from a firm called
0:30.3	Covington and Burling. In the latest chapter of Donald Trump's promised retribution, he has
0:35.5	signed an executive order against a law firm called Perkins
0:39.2	Kuwait. President Trump issued another executive order purporting to punish yet another law firm.
0:44.8	This one, Paul Weiss. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting
0:48.8	Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block. These executive orders could have massive detrimental consequences for some of the nation's
0:58.5	biggest law firms.
1:00.4	Here's our colleague Aaron Mulvaney, who covers legal affairs.
1:04.6	It could just make you bleed clients pretty much right away, almost immediately.
1:13.1	And as these executive orders were coming out, what was the response from lawyers in those firms?
1:20.9	Shock and fear, for sure, within those firms.
1:24.7	It was a pretty dramatic move that could really destroy these businesses. So law firms
1:28.5	have a lot of reason to be afraid for their business if they are targeted with an order.
1:35.3	These law firms are now having to decide how to respond. And none of the options are good.
1:46.4	Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.
1:51.7	I'm Kate Linebaugh. It's Wednesday, March 26th.
1:59.6	Coming up on the show, Trump's attack on big law.
2:04.5	Trump is taking aim at some big law firms because of things that happened years ago, going all the way back to his first term.
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