AP Photo/Ben Curtis
On the heels of Donald Trump’s executive order targeting several top law firms over ties to the president’s perceived enemies and decisions he opposes, Trump on Thursday announced that he had reached an agreement to drop his attack against one of the firms, Paul, Weiss. The deal, according to a Truth Social post, will renege Trump’s threat to suspend the security clearances of the firm’s attorneys in exchange for Paul, Weiss to dedicate $40 million in pro-bono services throughout his term.
The deal was widely seen as a remarkable act of capitulation by one of the most powerful law firms in the country. And now, an associate at Skadden Arps, another top firm, is speaking out.
In a company-wide email that was publicized online, Rachel Cohen, a third-year finance associate, condemned her employers for failing to speak out against the Trump administration’s retaliatory efforts. Cohen said that her letter should be considered a resignation unless any meaningful action emerged.
“This is not what I saw for my career or for my evening, but Paul Weiss’ decision to cave to the Trump administration on DEI, representation, and staffing has forced my hand,” she wrote. “We do not have time. It is either now or never, and if it’s never, I will not continue to work here.”
Though she appears to be the most outspoken, Cohen is not alone in her anguish. Earlier this week, more than 300 attorneys joined Cohen’s open letter to so-called Big Law firms that encouraged their employers to defend the profession against the Trump administration’s attacks.
“We call on our employers, large American law firms, to defend their colleagues and the legal profession by condemning this rapid purge of ‘partisan actors,’ a group that seems to be synonymous with those the president feels have wronged him,” the letter states.
Trump’s executive order is one part of a long revenge campaign against people who’ve gotten on the president’s bad side. As our staff recently reported:
The last 10 years Donald Trump spent running for president had an organizing principle: They ruined America, and we have to take it back. The “theys” were a varied group: immigrants, whistleblowers, trans people, journalists, Democrats, civil servants, independent-minded Republicans. But Trump’s option for dealing with resistance was the same: unsparing retribution, often trampling the norms of a legal and political system attempting to thwart his antidemocratic power grabs.
As of this morning, Cohen does not appear to have access to her corporate email account.
