Donald Trump announced Friday that five additional law firms had agreed to donate at least $600,000,000 in free legal services to causes he supports. This is a new concession offered by major law companies facing pressure from the White House.
The agreements are similar to those reached with four companies in the past few weeks. They require them to avoid diversity-based hiring practices that the administration considers illegal and work on projects for free, approved by the President.
Kirkland & Ellis is set to donate $125 million worth of pro bono services. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP will also contribute. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is set to provide $100 million or more, Trump stated in posts made on his Truth Social page.
The five companies’ spokespersons did not respond immediately to the comments.
In a joint statement shared by Trump, Kirkland, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher and Latham said they look forward to a “continued constructive and productive relationship with President Trump and his team.” The firms said they “resolved this matter while upholding long-held principles important to each of our firms.”
Patrick Quinn, Cadwalader’s managing partner, said in a joint statement with Trump that the agreement “was consistent with the principles which have guided Cadwalader over the past 230 years.”
The agreements are the result of executive orders Trump issued against five firms that he accused of “weaponizing’ the legal system to harm him and his supporters, citing their links with his political and legal opponents or their work in cases he opposes.
These orders prohibited their lawyers from contacting government officials or buildings, and they threatened to cancel any federal contracts that their clients held.
Three firms, Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, and Jenner & Block, sued the government over these orders. They won temporary blocks on the provisions after convincing federal judges they violated constitutional protections regarding speech and due process. Susman-Godfrey has also stated that it will challenge Trump’s order.
