Dear John,
Yesterday, Lawyers Defending American Democracy led a coalition of lawyers in the issuance of an open letter, calling on the country’s elite law firms to join forces in opposing President Trump's baseless Executive Orders. Through these executive edicts, President Trump has sought to punish law firms by prohibiting them from representing clients and causes the President disfavors and otherwise involving himself in the operations of the firms’ hiring policies and choice of pro bono clients.
The open letter calls upon these prestigious firms to develop a unified response in opposing the President’s unconstitutional actions.
Nine elite law firms have already acquiesced to the President's demands. As the open letter describes, their so-called agreements will not protect the firms from further demands and unwarranted intrusions. Instead, they compromise the rule of law and the role of the legal profession to defend our system of justice and to be free to represent clients and causes of their choosing.
LDAD is pleased to have led this effort along with Lawyers Allied Under Rule of Law (LAUROL), and The Steady State, representing over a thousand lawyers who have worked at the highest levels of the profession, including Judges, State Attorneys General, Senior Justice Department Officials, General Counsel of Fortune 500 Companies, State Bar Presidents, and as Senior Partners in the nation's top tier law firms.
As LDAD chair Scott Harshbarger stated, “The top echelons of the legal profession must end their silence and work to end the Administration’s efforts to intimidate the legal profession and, by extension, the entire system of justice in America. If the profession does not stand together to defend the simple and fundamental concept that lawyers - not the President - choose their clients, then there is no law. Negotiating, capitulating, or remaining silent is a betrayal of our oath, and the people we are sworn to serve."
To view the press release and read the open letter, click here.
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Lawyers Defending American Democracy
