WASHINGTON — Another major international law firm has reached a deal with President Donald Trump to dedicate at least $100 million in free legal services to causes such as supporting veterans and combating antisemitism, the White House and the law firm announced Tuesday.
The agreement makes Willkie Farr & Gallagher the third law firm in the last two weeks to cut a deal with the White House to avert sanctions. Under the agreement, Willkie also agreed to disavow the use of equity, diversity and inclusion considerations in its hiring decisions and to not deny representation to any client “because of the personal political views of individual lawyers.”
The have taken as Trump aims to punish them in some instances over their association with prosecutors who have previously investigated him, as well as their perceived association with causes that are out of favor with the administration.
The firm is home to the husband of 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and , who was chief investigative counsel to the House of Representatives committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The firm also represented in a successful defamation lawsuit against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Leaders of Willkie learned Sunday that they would be targeted for an executive order like the one leveled at nearly a half-dozen other major firms over the last month, according to an internal email from the firm’s executive committee obtained by The Associated Press.
“We were invited to contact the Administration on Sunday, and they outlined a proposed alternative to receiving an Executive Order. After determining that the three principles on which an agreement would be based are consistent with our Firm’s longstanding practices, we engaged in discussions to see if an acceptable resolution could be reached,” the email said.
Emhoff made it known internally that he disagreed with this deal and told firm leadership they should fight, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The Trump executive orders have threatened the security clearances of attorneys at the firms as well as the termination of the firms’ federal contracts and access by employees to federal buildings.
Last Friday, agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono legal services to avert an executive order, following the path of Paul Weiss, a firm that cut a deal just a week after it was targeted.
In other instances, federal judges have blocked from enforcement key portions of the orders having to do with federal contracts and access to federal buildings.
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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
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