Jabin
Botsford/The
Washington
Post/Bloomberg
via
Getty
Images)
Donald
Trump’s war
on
Biglaw,
through unconstitutional
Executive
Orders designed to
break
major
law
firms unless
they bend
a
knee to
Trump,
has
already
had
a
tremendous
impact
on
the
industry.
In
the face
of
financial
harm, nine
major
firms sought Trump’s
seal
of
approval,
providing
pro
bono
payola,
that
is,
free
legal
services
on
behalf
of conservative
clients
or
causes in
order
to
avoid
Trumpian
retribution.
But the
chilling
effect is
even
greater
than
those
capitulating
firms,
because
pro
bono
and
public
interest
representations by
Biglaw
firms are
down
— significantly —
as
firms
don’t
want
to
risk
Trump’s
ire.
There
have
been
a
few
examples
of
Biglaw
firms
that
capitulated
to
Trump
stepping
up
to
provide
the
kinds
of
legal
representation
the
nation
is
particularly
desperate
for
in
2025,
but
it’s
far
from
enough
to
cover
the
need
that
exists.
It’s
clear
that
Biglaw isn’t
going
to
be our
savior,
and
small
and
boutique
law
firms
have
helped
fill
in
the
gap.
But
the
legal
landscape
keeps
on
getting
worse,
and
it’s
really
an
all-hands-on-deck
moment.
Good
thing
there’s
Democracy
Forward,
a
501(c)(3)
legal
organization
that
has
more
than
100
actions
against
the
Trump
administration
in
2025.
As Skye
Perryman,
CEO
and
president,
told
Law.com,
“The
demand
for
our
work
has
grown
much
greater.
There
are
a
number
of
law
firms
that
are
not
taking
on
the
level
of
pro
bono
work,
the
level
of
pro
democracy
work
that
they
did
in
the
first
Trump
administration,
or
that
they
have
historically,
as
a
result
of
the
president’s
strategy
to
try
to
intimidate
institutions.”
And
Democracy
Forward
is
filling
in
the
void
created
by
Biglaw’s
withdrawal,
Perryman
continued,
“We
have
a
number
of
clients
and
people
and
communities,
diverse
groups,
coming
to
us
needing
that
representation
that
they
would
have
otherwise
got
from
the
private
sector.”
Democracy
Forward,
which
was
created
in
the
wake
of
the
first
Trump
administration,
is
staffed
by
many
former
Biglaw
and
government
attorneys.
And
they’ve
expanded
to
150
staff
members,
putting
them
in
an
excellent
position
to
continue
the
legal
fight
against
Trump.
“We
have
always
prioritized
having
full-time
legal
staff
so
that
we
could
be
able
to
take
on
matters
ourselves
when,
for
instance,
larger
institutions
like
some
of
the
elite
law
firms
that
are
not
taking
on
pro
bono
matters,
pull
back,”
said
Perryman.
“That’s
why
the
demand
for
our
work
has
exponentially
grown.”
And
it
only
looks
like
Democracy
Forward
will
get
busier.
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
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].