San Francisco Lawyers Push Back On Trump's Law Firm Attacks

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco law firm is speaking out about what it characterized as President Donald Trump’s “despicable” actions against attorneys who have opposed him.

The president has recently suspended security clearance for certain lawyers affiliated with his political and legal adversaries, including the Democratic National Committee and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“Our liberties depend on lawyers’ willingness to represent unpopular people and causes, including in matters adverse to the Federal Government," San Francisco firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters said in a prepared statement responding to Trump’s March 21 memorandum titled “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court.”

"An attack on lawyers who perform this work is inexcusable and despicable. Our profession owes every client zealous legal representation without fear of retribution, regardless of their political affiliation or ability to pay.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is speaking out against the president as well, joining 20 other state attorneys general in an open letter urging the legal community to resist Trump’s actions.

“The President seeks to bully and intimidate federal judges, attorneys, and law firms that disagree with him or take positions he does not like — undermining the American legal system built atop the U.S. Constitution he two months ago swore to uphold,” Bonta said in the news release. “We must not falter in our resolve to uphold the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law. Our democracy depends on it.”

Law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP gave in to the president’s demands, the news release said. The White House said the firm agreed to “take on a wide range of pro bono matters that represent the full spectrum of political viewpoints of our society,” to disavow the use of diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in its hiring and promotion decisions and to dedicate the equivalent of $40 million in free legal services to support Trump administration policies on issues including assistance for veterans and countering anti-Semitism.

“The law firms have to behave themselves, and we’ve proven that,” Trump said Monday, the Chronicle reported. “They behaved very badly, very wrongly and I appreciate the one — you know, these are the biggest firms and they all came back realizing that they did wrong, and that’s why they’re doing this.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.