by
Mark
Wilson/Getty
Images)
California
Attorney
General
Rob
Bonta
isn’t
going
to
pretend
the
Biglaw
deals
with
Trump
are
anything
but
terrible.
In
a
recent
sitdown
with
Bloomberg
News,
Bonta
took
direct
aim
at
the
nine
Biglaw
firms
that
struck
deals
with
the
Trump
administration
—
arrangements
that
traded
Trump-approved
pro
bono
work
for
relief
from
executive
orders
that
federal
judges
have
repeatedly
found
unconstitutional.
Or,
in
some
cases,
relief
from
nothing
more
than
the
threat
of
an
executive
order.
Which
somehow
made
the
capitulation
worse,
not
better.
This
was,
in
Bonta’s
words,
cowardice.
“It
was
weak,
it
was
cowardly,
it
was
craven
for
Paul
Weiss
to
do
it
at
the
beginning
and
sort
of
send
a
signal
to
the
other
firms
that
this
is
what
we’re
doing,”
Bonta
said.
“We’re
doing
deals,
we’re
caving,
we’re
bending
the
knee.”
He
wasn’t
subtle
about
the
firm
he
sees
as
Patient
Zero:
Paul,
Weiss,
the
first
Biglaw
shop
to
decide
that
fighting
an
unlawful
executive
order
was
just
too
stressful.
Better
to
offer
up
pro
bono
payola,
that
is
free
legal
services
for
conservative
clients
and
causes
favored
by
Donald
Trump,
in
exchange
for
regulatory
peace.
And
once
Paul,
Weiss
blinked,
others
followed.
Because
nothing
says
“rule
of
law”
like
letting
the
loudest
bully
in
the
room
set
the
terms.
Bonta,
notably,
is
not
speaking
from
some
abstract,
academic
perch.
California
has
filed
roughly
50
lawsuits
against
the
Trump
administration,
and
the
state
legislature
handed
Bonta
$25
million
last
year
specifically
to
keep
suing.
While
Biglaw
firms
were
tripping
over
themselves
to
make
deals,
California
was
doing
what
lawyers
are
theoretically
supposed
to
do
when
faced
with
unconstitutional
government
action:
litigate.
“We
have
the
luxury
of
being
able
to
do
the
work
ourselves,
because
we’re
so
well
resourced
and
so
large,”
Bonta
said.
Despite
the
reputational
damage
Paul,
Weiss
has
absorbed
since
the
deal
became
public,
the
firm
doesn’t
appear
to
be
losing
much
sleep
over
it.
The
firm
recently
went
through
a
leadership
shakeup,
with
longtime
chair
Brad
Karp
stepping
aside
earlier
this
month
amid
scrutiny
over
his
connections
to
Jeffrey
Epstein.
His
replacement,
Scott
Barshay,
a
corporate
partner,
was
reportedly
a
major
internal
proponent
of
the
Trump
deal.
That
tells
you
a
lot
about
how
this
decision
is
being
framed
internally
as
a
savvy
business
move
designed
to
protect
a
client
list,
not
the
constitution.
Bonta’s
critique
lands
because
it
exposes
the
lie
at
the
heart
of
Biglaw’s
self-image.
When
the
moment
came
to
defend
the
profession,
the
constitution,
or
even
their
own
institutional
independence,
too
many
firms
chose
instead
to
negotiate
with
the
threat.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
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her
with
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questions,
or
comments
and
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@Kathryn1 or
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@[email protected].