{"id":136649,"date":"2025-11-10T14:27:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T22:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/10\/heckler-asks-for-trump-as-paul-weiss-describes-pro-bono-work-at-gala-dinner\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T14:27:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T22:27:59","slug":"heckler-asks-for-trump-as-paul-weiss-describes-pro-bono-work-at-gala-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/10\/heckler-asks-for-trump-as-paul-weiss-describes-pro-bono-work-at-gala-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Heckler Asks \u2018For Trump?\u2019 As Paul Weiss Describes Pro Bono Work At Gala Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Bar Foundation gala typically boasts a country club vibe with golf claps, rubber chicken, and everyone pretending they\u2019re not checking their phones under the table. It\u2019s a crowd whose idea of rebellion is leaving before dessert. So when a crowd gathered outside Gotham Hall sporting signs calling out elite Biglaw firms for prostrating themselves before the Trump administration, and someone inside started heckling<\/em> Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp like he was bombing at the Apollo, it became abundantly clear that the legal industry\u2019s self-inflicted rot spread all the way to its mahogany-paneled core.<\/p>\n

The 75th edition of the New York State Bar Association\u2019s event described itself as \u201chonoring extraordinary leadership and lasting impact.\u201d With Paul Weiss taking a prominent role on this night, marrying that tagline to the very first firm to wave the white flag in Trump\u2019s illegal bullying campaign<\/a>, inspiring eight other copycats and ushering in the significant chilling of social justice work across the legal industry<\/a> likely to continue for the rest of the administration\u2019s tenure elevated the event to Needful Things<\/em> territory.<\/p>\n

Paul Weiss enjoys an impressive pro bono track record dating back decades. At Friday\u2019s event, Karp stressed that history and the firm\u2019s ongoing efforts to fight for reproductive freedom and pushing back against gun manufacturers\u2026 but the pledge to provide free legal services to satisfy Trump loomed over everything as the Ghost of Legal Ethics Present.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne lone heckler in the ballroom also voiced their distaste with Karp\u2019s decision,\u201d wrote American Lawyer<\/a>, \u201cand continuously yelled \u2018for Trump?\u2019 as Karp listed the firm\u2019s pro bono accomplishments, such as its pledge to devote $175 million toward pro bono work in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Trump?\u201d \u2014 striking the ear like a 2025 Biglaw equivalent of \u201cGot Milk?\u201d \u2014 highlights the gravity of Biglaw\u2019s error in signing on to these deals. For a firm with $175 million in pro bono work annually, a one-time commitment of $40 million to a handful of vaguely conservative-friendly charities is not much of an imposition. Even the firms following Paul Weiss\u2019s lead, all of whom ended up committing more free work, must have walked away quietly excited that Trump doesn\u2019t understand how quickly tens of millions of dollars adds up in Biglaw billing. While Trump ranted to the public about having a billion in free legal services to use after he left office, the firms themselves will probably close the book on these deals by the end on the year.<\/p>\n

Because they fundamentally don\u2019t grasp the damage that they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n

Their deals might be cheap on paper \u2014 or in Truth Social\u2019s digital crayon as the case may be \u2014 but Faustian bargains aren\u2019t measured by the four squares of the document. Trump has made clear he believes these deals are more expansive than the firms claim<\/a>, seeing them more as vassalage oaths than settlements. \u201cThey\u2019re all bending and saying, \u2018Sir, thank you very much,’\u201d Trump said<\/a>. \u201cNobody can believe it. Law firms are just saying, \u2018Where do I sign? Where do I sign?’\u201d The fact that the firms seem terrified to respond plainly<\/a> when lawmakers ask basic questions<\/em> about the deals, shows just how much the firms still FEAR reprisal if they push back on that claim. They continue to operate under the belief that Trump can throw out the deal and ask for more at any moment<\/a>. And this makes everything they do suspect<\/a>, presumptively a product of a quid pro quo with bad faith actors.<\/p>\n

But the collateral damage extends far beyond the firms themselves. In a perverse way, Paul Weiss and the other capitulators have enjoyed more<\/em> freedom of action this year, willing to cross the administration on some matters with limited confidence that their deals will hold. The decline in social justice work across the industry is a direct byproduct of these deals \u2014 Trump asserted the power to punish firms for pro bono work, and the surrendering firms told the market, \u201cwe agree.\u201d Once you establish \u201ccollaboration with authoritarianism\u201d as an acceptable business development strategy, every other firm takes judicial notice. Any firm that hadn\u2019t already<\/em> earned Trump\u2019s ire knew the biggest, deepest pockets in law had abandoned the fight. By settling, the top of Biglaw left the rest of the industry exposed.<\/p>\n

The result is the tragic human cost of an industry that\u2019s mostly abandoned the field, even if the individual firms managed to pat themselves on the back for staying committed to matters that amount to drops in the bucket. <\/p>\n

Paul Weiss partner Loretta Lynch picked up one of the event\u2019s Champion of Justice awards. As recounted by American Lawyer:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe must never forget that our greatest progress at many times in this country has often come after our greatest trials and tribulations,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe also have to remember as we deal with the trials and tribulations of the day, this has actually never been missing. As we look back on our country\u2019s 250 years, it\u2019s clear that our path towards justice and equality has always had twists and turns and sometimes outright reversals, but we have always pushed on. And with every challenge met, we get a little bit closer to our ideas and at every turn, when our own struggles have threatened to tear us apart, and yes that has happened, we turn to the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And when turning to the law might present short-term difficulties, we can always just make a deal with those acting illegally<\/em>, she pointedly did not add.<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>:\u00a0\u2018Pray I Don\u2019t Alter It Any Further\u2019: What Darth Vader Should Teach Law Firms About Settling With Trump<\/a>
Simpson Thacher Becomes Latest Surrender Firm To Join Up With Trump\u2019s International House Of Tariffs<\/a>
Paul Weiss, Kirkland Doing Free Trump Commerce Department Work As Part Of \u2018Please Don\u2019t Hurt Us Daddy\u2019 Deals<\/a><\/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 Heckler Asks \u2018For Trump?\u2019 As Paul Weiss Describes Pro Bono Work At Gala Dinner<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProtesters at an earlier event. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The New York Bar Foundation gala typically boasts a country club vibe with golf claps, rubber chicken, and everyone pretending they\u2019re not checking their phones under the table. It\u2019s a crowd whose idea of rebellion is leaving before dessert. So when a crowd gathered outside Gotham Hall sporting signs calling out elite Biglaw firms for prostrating themselves before the Trump administration, and someone inside started heckling<\/em> Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp like he was bombing at the Apollo, it became abundantly clear that the legal industry\u2019s self-inflicted rot spread all the way to its mahogany-paneled core.<\/p>\n

The 75th edition of the New York State Bar Association\u2019s event described itself as \u201chonoring extraordinary leadership and lasting impact.\u201d With Paul Weiss taking a prominent role on this night, marrying that tagline to the very first firm to wave the white flag in Trump\u2019s illegal bullying campaign<\/a>, inspiring eight other copycats and ushering in the significant chilling of social justice work across the legal industry<\/a> likely to continue for the rest of the administration\u2019s tenure elevated the event to Needful Things<\/em> territory.<\/p>\n

Paul Weiss enjoys an impressive pro bono track record dating back decades. At Friday\u2019s event, Karp stressed that history and the firm\u2019s ongoing efforts to fight for reproductive freedom and pushing back against gun manufacturers\u2026 but the pledge to provide free legal services to satisfy Trump loomed over everything as the Ghost of Legal Ethics Present.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne lone heckler in the ballroom also voiced their distaste with Karp\u2019s decision,\u201d wrote American Lawyer<\/a>, \u201cand continuously yelled \u2018for Trump?\u2019 as Karp listed the firm\u2019s pro bono accomplishments, such as its pledge to devote $175 million toward pro bono work in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Trump?\u201d \u2014 striking the ear like a 2025 Biglaw equivalent of \u201cGot Milk?\u201d \u2014 highlights the gravity of Biglaw\u2019s error in signing on to these deals. For a firm with $175 million in pro bono work annually, a one-time commitment of $40 million to a handful of vaguely conservative-friendly charities is not much of an imposition. Even the firms following Paul Weiss\u2019s lead, all of whom ended up committing more free work, must have walked away quietly excited that Trump doesn\u2019t understand how quickly tens of millions of dollars adds up in Biglaw billing. While Trump ranted to the public about having a billion in free legal services to use after he left office, the firms themselves will probably close the book on these deals by the end on the year.<\/p>\n

Because they fundamentally don\u2019t grasp the damage that they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n

Their deals might be cheap on paper \u2014 or in Truth Social\u2019s digital crayon as the case may be \u2014 but Faustian bargains aren\u2019t measured by the four squares of the document. Trump has made clear he believes these deals are more expansive than the firms claim<\/a>, seeing them more as vassalage oaths than settlements. \u201cThey\u2019re all bending and saying, \u2018Sir, thank you very much,’\u201d Trump said<\/a>. \u201cNobody can believe it. Law firms are just saying, \u2018Where do I sign? Where do I sign?’\u201d The fact that the firms seem terrified to respond plainly<\/a> when lawmakers ask basic questions<\/em> about the deals, shows just how much the firms still FEAR reprisal if they push back on that claim. They continue to operate under the belief that Trump can throw out the deal and ask for more at any moment<\/a>. And this makes everything they do suspect<\/a>, presumptively a product of a quid pro quo with bad faith actors.<\/p>\n

But the collateral damage extends far beyond the firms themselves. In a perverse way, Paul Weiss and the other capitulators have enjoyed more<\/em> freedom of action this year, willing to cross the administration on some matters with limited confidence that their deals will hold. The decline in social justice work across the industry is a direct byproduct of these deals \u2014 Trump asserted the power to punish firms for pro bono work, and the surrendering firms told the market, \u201cwe agree.\u201d Once you establish \u201ccollaboration with authoritarianism\u201d as an acceptable business development strategy, every other firm takes judicial notice. Any firm that hadn\u2019t already<\/em> earned Trump\u2019s ire knew the biggest, deepest pockets in law had abandoned the fight. By settling, the top of Biglaw left the rest of the industry exposed.<\/p>\n

The result is the tragic human cost of an industry that\u2019s mostly abandoned the field, even if the individual firms managed to pat themselves on the back for staying committed to matters that amount to drops in the bucket. <\/p>\n

Paul Weiss partner Loretta Lynch picked up one of the event\u2019s Champion of Justice awards. As recounted by American Lawyer:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe must never forget that our greatest progress at many times in this country has often come after our greatest trials and tribulations,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe also have to remember as we deal with the trials and tribulations of the day, this has actually never been missing. As we look back on our country\u2019s 250 years, it\u2019s clear that our path towards justice and equality has always had twists and turns and sometimes outright reversals, but we have always pushed on. And with every challenge met, we get a little bit closer to our ideas and at every turn, when our own struggles have threatened to tear us apart, and yes that has happened, we turn to the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And when turning to the law might present short-term difficulties, we can always just make a deal with those acting illegally<\/em>, she pointedly did not add.<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>:\u00a0\u2018Pray I Don\u2019t Alter It Any Further\u2019: What Darth Vader Should Teach Law Firms About Settling With Trump<\/a>
Simpson Thacher Becomes Latest Surrender Firm To Join Up With Trump\u2019s International House Of Tariffs<\/a>
Paul Weiss, Kirkland Doing Free Trump Commerce Department Work As Part Of \u2018Please Don\u2019t Hurt Us Daddy\u2019 Deals<\/a><\/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":"

The New York Bar Foundation gala typically boasts a country club vibe with golf claps, rubber chicken, and everyone pretending they\u2019re not checking their phones under the table. It\u2019s a crowd whose idea of rebellion is leaving before dessert. So when a crowd gathered outside Gotham Hall sporting signs calling out elite Biglaw firms for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136596,"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-136649","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\/11\/Headshot-300x200-t8iAcB.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136649","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=136649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}