Latest news with #Jenner&Block
Chicago Tribune
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Faith leaders: We cannot be silent about what is happening in America
'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.' These words, which fill a popular meme set against the profile of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., occupy our thoughts. We fear that day is arriving on American shores along with nothing short of an onslaught against our basic human rights. While the boldest headlines tell how people are literally snatched off the streets, are being disappeared to foreign prisons, news that often receives less attention reveals that our civil liberties are also being snatched up, one by one. In Selma, Alabama, a day after Bloody Sunday in 1965, a brutal assault by local law enforcement on nonviolent marchers, King spoke about the need to raise our voices: 'Deep down in our nonviolent creed is the conviction there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true, that they're worth dying for.' There are so very many precious things under attack in this American moment; consider the bronze bust of King that the president recently had removed from the Oval Office. Eerily reminiscent of that time 60 years ago, many of these attacks are being coordinated by those in charge of the purported enforcement of the law. As much as this is a time of existential concern, it is also a great — and we believe mandatory — opportunity to stand up for that which is right. But first, we must understand the severity of all that is wrong. To begin with, the very due process of law is under attack. We are witnessing expedited deportations — including those of children who are U.S. citizens — along with the intentional bypassing of immigration courts paired with limiting access to legal counsel. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are unlawfully detaining citizens, notably including California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla. Chicago police officers have reportedly aided ICE officers, in violation of Chicago statute, a move that is prompting further investigation. Furthermore, ICE agents are widely wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves, a likely violation of our Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure. Violations of habeas corpus aside — that's how this administration functions, it seems — the rule of law in general is under attack. The attacks on law firms and lawyers, even as Chicago's own Jenner & Block bravely resists, has nonetheless led to other firms with major offices in our city simply capitulating out of avarice or cowardice. Such 'comply in advance' legal actions line up in complicity with an administration that is disregarding court orders, threatening the impeachment of judges, and eroding the checks and balances of an independent judiciary. Our fundamental freedom of speech is also experiencing sustained assault. Travelers' social media feeds are subject to inspection at the border, and students coming the U.S. to study are having their feeds examined for ominous (and vague) 'indications of hostility.' Protesters in Los Angeles — who overwhelmingly were demonstrating peacefully — compelled the federal administration to deploy the National Guard against the advice of the governor and then mobilized the Marines to police citizens. Furthermore, there is a sustained effort to undermine the freedom of the press by targeting journalists, suing media outlets, pulling funding and even politicizing the White House press pool. LGBTQ+ rights are under assault, and Black and Latino communities — along with other minorities — are being further marginalized through sustained attacks on education inclusion, all in the land of 'e pluribus unum.' Given this state of affairs, it should not be surprising that objective measurements of freedom and democracy in the United States have eroded since January. Three months ago, the United States was added to the Civicus Monitor watchlist, which identifies countries that the global watchdog believes are experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms. We are not deluded: What we see is what is happening. And listing this doesn't capture the sheer violation of humanity: ripping babies away from their mothers, damaging trans kids by denying them access to medical care, and abetting food apartheid by working to eliminate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. That is why we cannot be silent. These things — human rights, civil liberties, basic human dignity — matter. In preparing this essay, we learned that King never precisely said: 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.' Although that was his message, his actual words are even more profound and challenging: 'A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. 'So we're going to stand up amid horses. We're going to stand up right here in Alabama, amid the billy clubs. We're going to stand up right here in Alabama amid police dogs, if they have them. We're going to stand up amid tear gas! We're going to stand up amid anything they can muster up, letting the world know that we are determined to be free!' So should we stand up, amid ICE agents and Marines. Committed to nonviolence, dedicated to the proposition that we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we're going to stand up right here in Chicago, amid even billy clubs and dogs and tear gas. We are going to stand up amid anything they can muster, letting the world know we are determined to be free. Join us. Chicago faith leaders Rabbi Seth Limmer, the Rev. Otis Moss III, the Rev. Ciera Bates-Chamberlain and the Rev. Michael Pfleger joined the Tribune's opinion section in summer 2022 for a series of columns on potential solutions to Chicago's chronic gun violence problem. The column continues on an occasional basis.
2 days ago
- Business
Judge rejects another Trump executive order targeting the legal community
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge on Friday struck down another of President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting law firms. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled that the order against the firm of Susman Godfrey was unconstitutional and must be permanently blocked. The order was the latest ruling to reject Trump's efforts to punish law firms for legal work he does not like and for employing attorneys he perceives as his adversaries. Susman Godfrey suggested that it had drawn Trump's ire at least in part because it represented Dominion Voting Systems in the voting machine company's defamation lawsuit against Fox News over false claims surrounding the 2020 presidential election. The suit ended in a massive settlement. Other judges in recent weeks have blocked similar orders against the firms of Jenner & Block, Perkins Coie and WilmerHale. The orders have sought to impose similar sanctions, including the suspension of security clearances of attorneys and the restriction of access to federal buildings. 'The order was one in a series attacking firms that had taken positions with which President Trump disagreed. In the ensuing months, every court to have considered a challenge to one of these orders has found grave constitutional violations and permanently enjoined enforcement of the order in full," AliKhan wrote. 'Today, this court follows suit, concluding that the order targeting Susman violates the U.S. Constitution and must be permanently enjoined.' In a statement, the firm called the ruling 'a resounding victory for the rule of law and the right of every American to be represented by legal counsel without fear of retaliation.' 'We applaud the Court for declaring the administration's order unconstitutional. Our firm is committed to the rule of law and to protecting the rights of our clients without regard to their political or other beliefs. Susman Godfrey's lawyers and staff live these values every day,' the statement said. Other major firms have sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that require them, among other things, to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes the Trump administration says it supports.
Mint
10-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Paul Weiss Strategy Tested as Partners Exit Post-Trump Deal
Paul Weiss leader Brad Karp spent more than a decade building his firm's deals practice to an elite level matching its litigation work. A deal he struck with President Donald Trump threatens the balance between the two. The Wall Street firm lost a string of litigation partners following the March 20 deal with Trump to provide $40 million in free legal services. The move got Paul Weiss out from under an executive order that Karp said threatened the firm's survival. Jeh Johnson, the prominent Democrat and former Homeland Security Secretary, last month retired from the firm where he'd spent parts of 40 years. Days later, a high-profile group of litigators, including Karen Dunn, Bill Isaacson, and Jeannie Rhee, hit the exit to launch their own firm, which numbers seven ex-Paul Weiss partners so far. Also gone: Damian Williams, the former Manhattan US Attorney who bolted from Paul Weiss after six months on the job to join Jenner & Block, a firm that successfully fought off a Trump executive order in court. All have Democratic ties. The departures accentuate a long-term trend at Paul Weiss, with the firm shifting its focus to lucrative work for private equity giants such as Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, and Bain Capital. That's brought greater headcount, revenue, and profitability, but also challenged the firm's identity. 'Paul Weiss made a decision a while ago to invest in their corporate work, and this is just a further development in that trajectory,' said Alisa Levin, a veteran recruiter with Greene-Levin-Snyder Legal Search Group. 'Nobody has left yet from the corporate side and I doubt that anybody will.' A Paul Weiss spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The firm under Karp has changed its compensation model so that partners don't know what others earn, and it added a second tier of partners who don't share in the firm's profits. Some of those who departed for the new Dunn firm were in the income partner category, according to three sources familiar with the firm. The corporate practice now outnumbers the litigation group, data from Leopard Solutions show. Karp, who has worked at Paul Weiss for more than 40 years, rose to prominence as a litigator and led the firm's courtroom practice before becoming chairman in 2008. He's become a go-to lawyer for the National Football League and built a reputation counseling major banks including Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. 'I went to Paul Weiss because of the reputation as the finest litigation, white collar defense firm in the county,' he said in a 2024 podcast interview with Quinn Emanuel leader John Quinn. Karp, who snagged Apollo as a major client on the litigation side, identified public M&A, private equity, and restructuring as three practice groups Paul Weiss needed to develop when he took the reins. 'You wouldn't be at the top of the national or New York market if you were a very successful litigation defense boutique,' Karp said in the podcast interview. 'We just had to be broader than that, and we had to be more resilient than that.' He scored a coup bringing onboard Scott Barshay from Cravath Swaine & Moore in 2016. Barshay, as corporate department head, holds great sway within the firm, bringing in major business and leading some of its recruitment efforts. Barshay was among a small group of partners Karp consulted on how to respond to Trump's executive order, the New York Times reported. Tension between litigation and corporate groups is not unique to Paul Weiss. Kirkland & Ellis, the world's largest firm by revenue, was long known as a Chicago-based litigation shop before its corporate practice shot to the top of the industry on the back of the surging private equity industry in the mid-to-late 2010s. Kirkland is among the nine firms that made deals with Trump to avoid executive orders, pledging nearly $1 billion in free legal services. Some Kirkland alumni describe litigation as an add-on 'service' for corporate clients, a view that firm leader Jon Ballis, has pushed back against, saying that the firm's litigation group would be larger than most law firms based on its revenue and is comparatively profitable to the firm's corporate work. Kirkland's litigation group has focused its work on major matters and been more receptive to alternative fee arrangements, which can bring large profit margins. Paul Weiss' litigators have maintained a lofty position in the industry. Top litigators include Ted Wells, former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and appellate practice leader Kannon Shanmugam. Many of the lawyers who departed had strong ties to Democrat politics, with Dunn prepping presidential candidate Kamala Harris for her debate with Trump, and Williams serving in a role appointed by President Joe Biden. Karp told attendees at a litigation partner lunch last week that six of the firm's 10 largest ongoing matters are litigation-related and none of those matters was generated or worked on by any of the partners who recently departed the firm, according to three people who attended the meeting. 'Paul Weiss is an institution, and the firm's litigation team will continue on as a top-caliber group despite these departures,' said Jon Truster, a partner at recruiting firm Macrae. Dunn and Isaacson joined the firm in a high-profile move from Boies Schiller Flexner in 2020. The group was known for its relationships with Big Tech clients such as Apple Inc., Oracle Corp., Facebook Inc., Uber Technologies Corp., and Inc., which it continued to represent at Paul Weiss. Dunn also pursued pro bono work with Paul Weiss-like vigor, including representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the Charlottsville 'Unite the Right' rally. The firm's commitment to pro bono work dates back at least a century. Paul Weiss attorneys worked to overturn the wrongful conviction of 'the Scottsboro boys,' a group of Black teenagers in the 1930s who were falsely accused of raping a White woman in Alabama. The firm opened an office in San Francisco—a historically difficult market to crack—shortly after the arrival of Dunn and Isaacson, signaling the hires' impact. Paul Weiss' Silicon Valley presence today numbers less than 40 lawyers, and it has only made one internal partner promotion there since the office opened. Dunn appears set to continue her work with major clients. She's notified courts in cases representing Google and Qualcomm of her change to a new firm, staying on the cases alongside other Paul Weiss lawyers. She did withdraw from one case this week. She is no longer working alongside Paul Weiss lawyers representing the city of Springfield, Ohio in a pro bono case against the Blood Tribe, a group labeled as neo-Nazis by the Anti-Defamation League that rallied in the city in 2024 amid a campaign of conspiracy theories directed against its Haitian community. To contact the reporters on this story: Roy Strom in Chicago at rstrom@ Justin Henry in Washington DC at jhenry@ To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Opfer at copfer@ John Hughes at jhughes@ Alessandra Rafferty at arafferty@ This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Another top Paul Weiss lawyer departs firm after Trump deal
Paul, Weiss — the first law firm to strike a deal with President Trump to avoid a punitive executive order — is losing a prominent attorney to a firm that, when targeted by the White House, fought back in court. Damian Williams, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, is set to leave Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison after half a year there for a role at Jenner & Block. His departure is the latest in a series of high-profile resignations from the firm in the aftermath of its agreement with the Trump administration. In a Friday statement, Williams praised Jenner & Block for 'fearlessly' advocating for its clients and how it 'lives its values.' 'I'm excited to join a team with an extraordinary depth of legal talent that doesn't shy away from hard fights — and delivers results that matter,' he said. Since returning to the White House, Trump has targeted six big law firms with executive orders aimed at undercutting their business as retribution for their ties to his political adversaries. While four of the firms filed legal action challenging the directives, Trump revoked his executive order against Paul, Weiss after it agreed to provide $40 million in free legal services to support administration initiatives and other perks. The deal set off an avalanche of agreements between the Trump administration and the nation's top law firms. Now, eight other firms have entered agreements with Trump to provide tens of millions of dollars in pro bono work, despite there being no executive orders issued against them. Jenner & Block, meanwhile, sued the administration. A federal judge last month deemed the order against the firm unlawful and blocked it in full. 'This order, like the others, seeks to chill legal representation the administration doesn't like, thereby insulating the Executive Branch from the judicial check fundamental to the separation of powers,' U.S. District Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote in a 52-page opinion. 'It thus violates the Constitution and the Court will enjoin its operation in full.' Last month, four top lawyers at Paul, Weiss also departed from their roles as partners at the law firm to form their own practice. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Mint
06-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Paul Weiss Loses Ex-US Attorney Williams After Trump Deal
A former federal prosecutor who joined Paul Weiss in the month leading up to President Trump's second term left for Jenner & Block. New York-based partner Damian Williams will co-chair Jenner's litigation department and investigations, compliance and defense practice, according to the firm's announcement on Friday. He leaves a firm that struck a controversial deal with the Trump administration to avoid punitive sanctions to a firm that sued Trump to block a similar attack. Williams' departure comes only months after he re-joined Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. Paul Weiss announced Williams' arrival in January, and said he began his legal career as a Paul Weiss associate in 2009. 'Damian led the Southern District with excellence and integrity, and we are excited to welcome him to Jenner as part of our firm's long tradition of hiring former public servants who are zealous and effective advocates,' said Jenner's chair Tom Perrelli, former Associate US Attorney General. A representative for Paul Weiss thanked Williams for his contributions to the firm and wished him well. Paul Weiss roused controversy within the legal community as the first of nine firms to pledge a collective $940 million in free legal services to Trump-approved causes in exchange for avoiding punitive White House sanctions. The firm drew Trump's anger as the former professional home to Mark Pomerantz, who left the firm in 2021 to assist with the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation into Trump's finances. Along with other Trump-targeted firms Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey, Jenner sued the Trump administration to reclaim security clearances and access to federal buildings that were threatened by a Trump executive order. Williams served as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2021 to 2024, when he left to join Paul Weiss. He oversaw the high-profile prosecutions of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and US Senator Bob Menendez. He was the first Black US Attorney in the history of the New York Southern District. Jenner's announcement said Williams will be a 'driving force' in the firm's litigation and white-collar work. 'Jenner & Block fearlessly advocates for its clients and provides outstanding strategic counsel through their most difficult challenges,' Williams said. 'I've seen firsthand how this firm expertly tackles the toughest cases and lives its values. I'm excited to join a team with an extraordinary depth of legal talent that doesn't shy away from hard fights—and delivers results that matter.' Paul Weiss has sustained a string of partner exits in the wake of the announcement of its deal with the Trump administration. Litigation department co-chair Karen Dunn, an outside counsel to Google and former campaign adviser to Kamala Harris, left with three partners last month to start a new litigation boutique. Dunn and colleagues have represented Apple Inc. and Facebook. Their exits followed Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary under President Barack Obama, and Steve Banks, who oversaw the firm's pro bono practice. Trump issued an executive order against the firm March 14, which he rescinded within a week when firm chairman Brad Karp said the firm would devote $40 million in free legal services to mutually-agreed upon causes during Trump's presidency. Karp's pledge was expanded upon by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom's March 28 deal with the president, which saw the firm promise $100 million in free legal services. Within a month, seven other firms, including Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins, made similar pledges, some as high as $125 million. The firms, as part of their deals, also promised not to engage in 'illegal DEI' activities and commit to 'merit-based' hiring. Skadden also faced departures in the wake of its deal with Trump, one being Kathleen Rubenstein, executive director of the Skadden Foundation, resigning from the public interest law group. To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Henry in Washington DC at jhenry@ To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Opfer at copfer@ John Hughes at jhughes@ Alessandra Rafferty at arafferty@ This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
