On March 6, 2025, the President of the United States issued an executive order, supported by no provision of the U.S. Constitution or any federal statute, entitled “Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP.” The order attacks Perkin Coie’s clients and the issues for which the firm has represented those clients for many years. The order even attacks the firm’s pro bono work, contending that it protects “activities that make our communities less safe, increases burdens on local businesses, limits constitutional freedoms and degrades the quality of American elections.” It does not.
In reality, the President has attacked Perkins Coie for its role in representing Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and, as he has admitted, the role the firm played in creating the report that tied the 2016 Trump campaign to Russia.
In retaliation for Perkins Coie’s perceived misdeeds, the President’s order subjects the law firm, as well as its clients and personnel to significant punishments, including revocation of its attorneys’ security clearances, the potential loss of clients that contract with the federal government, and denial of access to federal buildings and facilities. Including federal courthouses. All because Perkins Coie has represented persons and issues the current President dislikes.
To be clear, the President’s order violates the First, Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. It also violates the bedrock principles of the separation of powers between the Executive and Judicial branches of our federal government.
The looming threat posed by the President’s order issued against Perkins Coie – and other orders like it – should not be lost on any attorney who practices law in this country today. Any controversial representation that challenges actions of the current administration now brings with it the risk of retaliation. Whatever short-term advantage the current administration may gain from exercising power in this way, the rule of law cannot long endure in the climate of fear that such actions create.
The American legal system depends on zealous advocates litigating each side of a case with equal vigor. That is how impartial judges arrive at informed decisions that uphold the rule of law and dispense justice. It is a deeply held principle of the legal profession that everyone, no matter their actions or beliefs, is entitled to legal representation in a court of law to argue on their behalf. The President’s current order against Perkins Coie seeks to undermine all of these bedrock legal principles on which our republic was founded.
The President has issued numerous similar executive orders to other law firms in retaliation for real or imagined slights or insults he has suffered over the years. Some of those firms have decided to capitulate and agree to a deal with the President, knowing that they can trust his word. Wink, wink.
Others have not. Rather than capitulate, Perkins Coie has chosen to stand and fight. Finkel Law Group stands with them. Please click here to read the amicus brief and appendix identifying the more than 500 law firms nationwide that have chosen to stand with Perkins Coie too.