Donald Trump Is Trying To Shakedown Cadwalader – Above the Law

Donald
Trump
has
ben
busy
using
the
questionable
power
of
Executive
Orders
to
target
Biglaw
firms
like Covington
&
Burling,
then Perkins
Coie, Paul
Weiss, Jenner
&
Block,
and WilmerHale.
All
for
the
grievous
insult
of
having
their
attorneys
take
cases
that
Donald
Trump
or
his
allies
just
don’t
like.
And
more
than
that,
Trump
has
had
wild
success
using
the
mere
threat
of
EOs
and
the

financial
harm
they
bring
to
get
major
firms
(Skadden,

Milbank,

Willkie,
probably

Kirkland)
to
do
his
bidding.
(Generally,
providing
millions
in
pro
bono
services
for
conservative
causes/clients
and
abandoning
the
firm’s
DEI
efforts.)

According
to

reporting
by
the
New
York
Times,
the
next
firm
in
the
President’s
crosshairs
is
Cadwalader.
Not
for
cases
they
*did*
take
but
for
one
specific
one
they
didn’t.
Former
Cadwalader
partner
Todd
Blanche
disagreed
with
his
onetime
partners
about
taking
Trump
on
as
a
client.

But
in
2023,
when
Mr.
Trump
was
facing
multiple
criminal
investigations
and
Mr.
Blanche
wanted
to
represent
him,
most
of
the
firm’s
leadership
balked
at
the
idea,
according
to
people
with
knowledge
of
the
matter.

So,
Mr.
Blanche
left
Cadwalader,
hanging
out
his
own
legal
shingle
and
expressing
bitterness
to
some
allies
that
he
had
to
do
so
to
take
on
Mr.
Trump
as
a
client,
one
of
the
people
said.

Now
Trump
wants
retribution
on
Blanche’s
behalf.
And,
honestly,
it
sounds
an
awful
lot
like
a
shakedown.

One
of
Mr.
Trump’s
advisers
has
been
in
touch
with
the
firm
to
suggest
that
it
sign
a
deal
in
which
it
would
offer
tens
of
millions
of
dollars
in
pro
bono
legal
services
to
causes
that
the
Trump
administration
supports.

It’s
unclear,
at
this
point,
if
Cadwalader
will
capitulate
to
these
demands
or
take
a
stand.
But
all
of
Biglaw
is
watching.

---

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter

@Kathryn1 or
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@[email protected].