Turns out standing up to Trump has its rewards
Donald Trump uses bluster to make people fear him. Though it might seem to some a bad idea to go against the president of the United States, the president is a person, just like the rest of us. He needs to earn respect in the old-fashioned way, not by beating people into submission. Cowering may make the big, bad bully go ahead temporarily, but in the long term, the cost is far greater.
The law firms that sued the Trump administration rather than bow to Trump’s demands have won victories in court. The judges who ruled in their favor are from different districts and were appointed by various presidents. They are not “Obama judges,” Biden judges,” or “radical lunatics.” They were appointed by both political parties. What they share is respect for the rule of law. Trump violated the Constitution when he tried to blackball law firms because of his twisted sense of retribution. The Hill quoted Yale Law School professor Harold Hongju Koh: “This is a moment for courage, not capitulation. The firms that showed courage are being vindicated, and the ones who have capitulated have another chance to show courage. So, what are they going to do?” Likely, nothing.
As the Hill pointed out, the firms who decided to bow to Trump could have sued. For them, however, it was easier to “go along to get along,” but they weren’t looking at the big picture. Many have lost great lawyers who no longer wanted to be associated with them. Some of those lawyers have opened their own firms. Those firms are now facing the big picture: lost business.
According to the Wall Street Journal and Salon, companies are choosing to move their business to the firms that fought back against Trump. We’re talking large companies, such as Oracle, Morgan Stanley, and an unnamed airline and pharmaceutical company. Microsoft has publicly made known its reservations about working with any of the firms that struck a deal with Trump, and McDonald’s recently terminated a firm mere months before the start of a trial. This is how you show a backbone, and successful businesspeople don’t want spineless attorneys working for them. WSJ interviewed several general counsels, all of whom indicated that it would be difficult to trust firms that struck deals with Trump. If they can’t fight for themselves, how can they fight for a client? That thought is what ultimately drove clients away. An example is Morgan Stanley, whose chief legal officer, Eric Grossman, met with Latham & Watkins’ chair, who wanted Grossman to hear his reasons for bending to Trump. While Grossman acknowledged what Latham’s chair had to say, Grossman reached out to the firms that fought Trump to tell them he had new business for them.
Lawyers, especially litigators, must show that they’re up for a fight. If they don’t, they won’t be very successful, as fighting is what litigation is all about. If these firms refuse to fight for themselves, Fortune 500 companies don’t want them pretending to fight for them. When these companies enter litigation, they expect to win, not bow down to the other side.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years