Major international law firm reaches deal with White House, becoming the
latest to do so
[April 02, 2025]
By ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — Another major international law firm has reached a
deal with President Donald Trump to dedicate at least $100 million in
free legal services to causes such as supporting veterans and combating
antisemitism, the White House announced Tuesday.
The agreement makes Willkie Farr & Gallagher the third law firm in the
last two weeks to cut a deal with the White House to avert sanctions
from the U.S. government.
It was reached just two days after leaders at Willkie learned that the
White House intended to issue a executive order against the firm, an
action that could have carried “potentially grave consequences,”
according to an internal email from the firm's executive committee
obtained by The Associated Press.
The resolution reflects the differing responses being taken by the legal
community as Trump continues to target some of the world's most elite
law firms and extract concessions from them, such as the renunciation of
diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in hiring and promotion
decisions. Many of the firms that have been the subject of Trump's
executive orders are associated with lawyers who previously investigated
him, either when he was president or between his terms in the White
House.
Willkie is home to Doug Emhoff, the husband of 2024 Democratic
presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and Timothy Heaphy, who was chief
investigative counsel to the House of Representatives committee that
investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The firm also
represented two former Georgia election workers in a successful
defamation lawsuit against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Three of the targeted firms have now made deals with the White House —
resolutions that critics within the legal community call a capitulation
— but others have challenged them in court and have been successful in
getting key portions of the edicts blocked.
The internal email from Willkie acknowledged that ambivalence.
“While the agreement ultimately reached with the Administration focuses
on activities that are already in place at our Firm, similar agreements
at peer firms have been publicly criticized, and there is heightened
conversation across our industry as law firms grapple with the
consequences of potential Executive Orders and the impact for their
clients, their employees and their businesses,” the email said.
“In making this difficult decision, we concluded, after due
consideration of the implications of each possible course of action,
that accepting the Administration’s final proposal was the path that
best serves our clients’ needs and protects the Firm’s various
stakeholders, avoiding potentially grave consequences,” it added.
Leaders of Willkie learned Sunday that they would be targeted for an
executive order like the one leveled at nearly a half-dozen other major
firms over the last month, the email said. The White House then
“outlined a proposed alternative” consisting of three principles on
which an agreement could be based.
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President Donald Trump waves to the media as he walks on the South
Lawn of the White House, in Washington, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP
Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Emhoff made it known internally that he disagreed with the deal and
told firm leadership they should fight, according to a person
familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss
internal deliberations.
The firm email downplayed the scope of reforms and suggested that
the firm had simply agreed to continue its longstanding practices.
That includes following “the law related to our employment
practices," representing clients across varied political and
ideological spectrums and continuing to “represent underrepresented
individuals and groups.”
The White House, by contrast, portrayed the changes in more sweeping
terms, saying Willkie had affirmed “its commitment to Merit-Based
Hiring, Promotion, and Retention. Accordingly, the Firm will not
engage in illegal DEI discrimination and preferences.”
The Trump executive orders have threatened the security clearances
of attorneys at each of the targeted firms as well as the
termination of federal contracts and access by employees to federal
buildings.
Last Friday, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom agreed to provide
$100 million in pro bono legal services to avert an executive order,
following the path of Paul Weiss, a firm that cut a deal just a week
after it was targeted. The Paul Weiss chairman has said the Trump
action risked destroying the firm.
In some instances, federal judges have blocked key portions of the
orders having to do with federal contracts and access to federal
buildings from being enforced, as has happened in lawsuits brought
by WilmerHale, Jenner & Block and Perkins Coie.
WilmerHale is the firm where special counsel Robert Mueller, who
investigated Trump during his first term, worked for years before
retiring. Jenner & Block previously employed Andrew Weissmann, who
was a top lawyer on Mueller's team, and Perkins Coie represented
Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign.
The first firm to be targeted was Covington & Burling, which has
offered legal services to special counsel Jack Smith, who
investigated Trump in his second term.
___
Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to
this report.
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