at
an
earlier
event.
(Photo
by
Michael
M.
Santiago/Getty
Images)
The
New
York
Bar
Foundation
gala
typically
boasts
a
country
club
vibe
with
golf
claps,
rubber
chicken,
and
everyone
pretending
they’re
not
checking
their
phones
under
the
table.
It’s
a
crowd
whose
idea
of
rebellion
is
leaving
before
dessert.
So
when
a
crowd
gathered
outside
Gotham
Hall
sporting
signs
calling
out
elite
Biglaw
firms
for
prostrating
themselves
before
the
Trump
administration,
and
someone
inside
started
heckling
Paul
Weiss
chair
Brad
Karp
like
he
was
bombing
at
the
Apollo,
it
became
abundantly
clear
that
the
legal
industry’s
self-inflicted
rot
spread
all
the
way
to
its
mahogany-paneled
core.
The
75th
edition
of
the
New
York
State
Bar
Association’s
event
described
itself
as
“honoring
extraordinary
leadership
and
lasting
impact.”
With
Paul
Weiss
taking
a
prominent
role
on
this
night,
marrying
that
tagline
to
the
very
first
firm
to
wave
the
white
flag
in
Trump’s
illegal
bullying
campaign,
inspiring
eight
other
copycats
and
ushering
in
the
significant
chilling
of
social
justice
work
across
the
legal
industry
likely
to
continue
for
the
rest
of
the
administration’s
tenure
elevated
the
event
to
Needful
Things
territory.
Paul
Weiss
enjoys
an
impressive
pro
bono
track
record
dating
back
decades.
At
Friday’s
event,
Karp
stressed
that
history
and
the
firm’s
ongoing
efforts
to
fight
for
reproductive
freedom
and
pushing
back
against
gun
manufacturers…
but
the
pledge
to
provide
free
legal
services
to
satisfy
Trump
loomed
over
everything
as
the
Ghost
of
Legal
Ethics
Present.
“One
lone
heckler
in
the
ballroom
also
voiced
their
distaste
with
Karp’s
decision,”
wrote
American
Lawyer,
“and
continuously
yelled
‘for
Trump?’
as
Karp
listed
the
firm’s
pro
bono
accomplishments,
such
as
its
pledge
to
devote
$175
million
toward
pro
bono
work
in
2025.”
“For
Trump?”
—
striking
the
ear
like
a
2025
Biglaw
equivalent
of
“Got
Milk?”
—
highlights
the
gravity
of
Biglaw’s
error
in
signing
on
to
these
deals.
For
a
firm
with
$175
million
in
pro
bono
work
annually,
a
one-time
commitment
of
$40
million
to
a
handful
of
vaguely
conservative-friendly
charities
is
not
much
of
an
imposition.
Even
the
firms
following
Paul
Weiss’s
lead,
all
of
whom
ended
up
committing
more
free
work,
must
have
walked
away
quietly
excited
that
Trump
doesn’t
understand
how
quickly
tens
of
millions
of
dollars
adds
up
in
Biglaw
billing.
While
Trump
ranted
to
the
public
about
having
a
billion
in
free
legal
services
to
use
after
he
left
office,
the
firms
themselves
will
probably
close
the
book
on
these
deals
by
the
end
on
the
year.
Because
they
fundamentally
don’t
grasp
the
damage
that
they’ve
done.
Their
deals
might
be
cheap
on
paper
—
or
in
Truth
Social’s
digital
crayon
as
the
case
may
be
—
but
Faustian
bargains
aren’t
measured
by
the
four
squares
of
the
document.
Trump
has
made
clear
he
believes
these
deals
are
more
expansive
than
the
firms
claim,
seeing
them
more
as
vassalage
oaths
than
settlements.
“They’re
all
bending
and
saying,
‘Sir,
thank
you
very
much,’”
Trump
said.
“Nobody
can
believe
it.
Law
firms
are
just
saying,
‘Where
do
I
sign?
Where
do
I
sign?’”
The
fact
that
the
firms
seem
terrified
to
respond
plainly
when
lawmakers
ask
basic
questions
about
the
deals,
shows
just
how
much
the
firms
still
FEAR
reprisal
if
they
push
back
on
that
claim.
They
continue
to
operate
under
the
belief
that
Trump
can
throw
out
the
deal
and
ask
for
more
at
any
moment.
And
this
makes
everything
they
do
suspect,
presumptively
a
product
of
a
quid
pro
quo
with
bad
faith
actors.
But
the
collateral
damage
extends
far
beyond
the
firms
themselves.
In
a
perverse
way,
Paul
Weiss
and
the
other
capitulators
have
enjoyed
more
freedom
of
action
this
year,
willing
to
cross
the
administration
on
some
matters
with
limited
confidence
that
their
deals
will
hold.
The
decline
in
social
justice
work
across
the
industry
is
a
direct
byproduct
of
these
deals
—
Trump
asserted
the
power
to
punish
firms
for
pro
bono
work,
and
the
surrendering
firms
told
the
market,
“we
agree.”
Once
you
establish
“collaboration
with
authoritarianism”
as
an
acceptable
business
development
strategy,
every
other
firm
takes
judicial
notice.
Any
firm
that
hadn’t
already
earned
Trump’s
ire
knew
the
biggest,
deepest
pockets
in
law
had
abandoned
the
fight.
By
settling,
the
top
of
Biglaw
left
the
rest
of
the
industry
exposed.
The
result
is
the
tragic
human
cost
of
an
industry
that’s
mostly
abandoned
the
field,
even
if
the
individual
firms
managed
to
pat
themselves
on
the
back
for
staying
committed
to
matters
that
amount
to
drops
in
the
bucket.
Paul
Weiss
partner
Loretta
Lynch
picked
up
one
of
the
event’s
Champion
of
Justice
awards.
As
recounted
by
American
Lawyer:
“We
must
never
forget
that
our
greatest
progress
at
many
times
in
this
country
has
often
come
after
our
greatest
trials
and
tribulations,”
Lynch
said.
“We
also
have
to
remember
as
we
deal
with
the
trials
and
tribulations
of
the
day,
this
has
actually
never
been
missing.
As
we
look
back
on
our
country’s
250
years,
it’s
clear
that
our
path
towards
justice
and
equality
has
always
had
twists
and
turns
and
sometimes
outright
reversals,
but
we
have
always
pushed
on.
And
with
every
challenge
met,
we
get
a
little
bit
closer
to
our
ideas
and
at
every
turn,
when
our
own
struggles
have
threatened
to
tear
us
apart,
and
yes
that
has
happened,
we
turn
to
the
law.”
And
when
turning
to
the
law
might
present
short-term
difficulties,
we
can
always
just
make
a
deal
with
those
acting
illegally,
she
pointedly
did
not
add.
Earlier: ‘Pray
I
Don’t
Alter
It
Any
Further’:
What
Darth
Vader
Should
Teach
Law
Firms
About
Settling
With
Trump
Simpson
Thacher
Becomes
Latest
Surrender
Firm
To
Join
Up
With
Trump’s
International
House
Of
Tariffs
Paul
Weiss,
Kirkland
Doing
Free
Trump
Commerce
Department
Work
As
Part
Of
‘Please
Don’t
Hurt
Us
Daddy’
Deals
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
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if
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