{"id":119290,"date":"2025-05-16T09:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/16\/dojs-new-biglaw-conflict-policy-a-masterclass-in-retaliation-theater\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T09:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:04:06","slug":"dojs-new-biglaw-conflict-policy-a-masterclass-in-retaliation-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/16\/dojs-new-biglaw-conflict-policy-a-masterclass-in-retaliation-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ\u2019s New Biglaw \u2018Conflict\u2019 Policy: A Masterclass in Retaliation Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an effort to keep piling indignity upon the legacy of the Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General (and apparently Librarian of Congress somehow<\/a>?) Todd Blanche just unveiled a policy redefining \u201cconflict of interest\u201d to mean \u201cdared to sue us\u201d \u2014 directing that the Justice Department\u2019s \u201cprivate counsel\u201d program can no longer hire any firm<\/a> that \u201ccontemporaneously are directly adverse to the United States \u2014 for example, active litigation against Administration policies or representing clients in active litigation against Administration policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The edict cites the Model Rules, which do identify as a conflict, \u201cthe representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client.\u201d Though since representing a law firm challenging an executive order has no substantive connection to helping the civil division collect debts \u2014 the point of the private counsel program \u2014 the announcement stretches the interpretation of \u201cconflict\u201d like flubber. <\/p>\n

Since this isn\u2019t really about ethics but empty symbolic retribution, it totally tracks. <\/p>\n

There are around 20 Am Law 200 firms currently tussling with the government by the National Law Journal\u2019s reckoning. That includes firms targeted by Trump executive orders that had the self-respect not to surrender, the firms representing those firms, as well as the firms representing the wrongfully deported or Harvard or people illegally fired by a ketamine-fueled idiot<\/a> with a dubious special appointment. <\/p>\n

Any firm already litigating against the administration had to expect this. The White House isn\u2019t subtle about rule by vendetta. But it\u2019s not so much deterring the current crop of firms opposing Trump. Draping itself in the legitimacy of the same ABA it\u2019s relentlessly trashing<\/a>, the DOJ announcement aspires to chill any future firm from taking a case against the administration by threatening to lock them out like a college grad at a Matt Gaetz party.<\/p>\n

Except\u2026 who cares? The flipside of running an administration built on illegal retaliation is that it creates enough potential business to more than offset losing out on any private counsel work the DOJ might throw that way. When Trump closes a door, he opens several more and they all lead into courtrooms. <\/p>\n

Does anyone actually think we\u2019ve seen the end of law firms slapped with vindictive executive orders or universities receiving funding threats? There\u2019s going to be work everywhere. This is like the living embodiment of the Jeremy Clarkson meme:<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The only practical effect of this decision is leaving the DOJ without anyone trying to take on private counsel business. Maybe they can use some of that billion dollars worth of pro bono payola they\u2019ve racked up.<\/p>\n

Oh, sorry, that cowardly crop of Biglaw firms didn\u2019t really<\/em> agree to do work for the administration<\/a>. Wink wink!<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post DOJ\u2019s New Biglaw \u2018Conflict\u2019 Policy: A Masterclass in Retaliation Theater<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an effort to keep piling indignity upon the legacy of the Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General (and apparently Librarian of Congress somehow<\/a>?) Todd Blanche just unveiled a policy redefining \u201cconflict of interest\u201d to mean \u201cdared to sue us\u201d \u2014 directing that the Justice Department\u2019s \u201cprivate counsel\u201d program can no longer hire any firm<\/a> that \u201ccontemporaneously are directly adverse to the United States \u2014 for example, active litigation against Administration policies or representing clients in active litigation against Administration policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The edict cites the Model Rules, which do identify as a conflict, \u201cthe representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client.\u201d Though since representing a law firm challenging an executive order has no substantive connection to helping the civil division collect debts \u2014 the point of the private counsel program \u2014 the announcement stretches the interpretation of \u201cconflict\u201d like flubber. <\/p>\n

Since this isn\u2019t really about ethics but empty symbolic retribution, it totally tracks. <\/p>\n

There are around 20 Am Law 200 firms currently tussling with the government by the National Law Journal\u2019s reckoning. That includes firms targeted by Trump executive orders that had the self-respect not to surrender, the firms representing those firms, as well as the firms representing the wrongfully deported or Harvard or people illegally fired by a ketamine-fueled idiot<\/a> with a dubious special appointment. <\/p>\n

Any firm already litigating against the administration had to expect this. The White House isn\u2019t subtle about rule by vendetta. But it\u2019s not so much deterring the current crop of firms opposing Trump. Draping itself in the legitimacy of the same ABA it\u2019s relentlessly trashing<\/a>, the DOJ announcement aspires to chill any future firm from taking a case against the administration by threatening to lock them out like a college grad at a Matt Gaetz party.<\/p>\n

Except\u2026 who cares? The flipside of running an administration built on illegal retaliation is that it creates enough potential business to more than offset losing out on any private counsel work the DOJ might throw that way. When Trump closes a door, he opens several more and they all lead into courtrooms. <\/p>\n

Does anyone actually think we\u2019ve seen the end of law firms slapped with vindictive executive orders or universities receiving funding threats? There\u2019s going to be work everywhere. This is like the living embodiment of the Jeremy Clarkson meme:<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The only practical effect of this decision is leaving the DOJ without anyone trying to take on private counsel business. Maybe they can use some of that billion dollars worth of pro bono payola they\u2019ve racked up.<\/p>\n

Oh, sorry, that cowardly crop of Biglaw firms didn\u2019t really<\/em> agree to do work for the administration<\/a>. Wink wink!<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an effort to keep piling indignity upon the legacy of the Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General (and apparently Librarian of Congress somehow?) Todd Blanche just unveiled a policy redefining \u201cconflict of interest\u201d to mean \u201cdared to sue us\u201d \u2014 directing that the Justice Department\u2019s \u201cprivate counsel\u201d program can no longer hire any firm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":119203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Headshot-300x200-0w2mcu.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}