{"id":140935,"date":"2026-01-05T17:10:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/05\/paul-weiss-betrayed-its-own-values-when-capitulating-to-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T17:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:10:54","slug":"paul-weiss-betrayed-its-own-values-when-capitulating-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/05\/paul-weiss-betrayed-its-own-values-when-capitulating-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul, Weiss \u2018Betrayed Its Own Values\u2019 When Capitulating To Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed. note<\/u>: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

I suspect that we have already seen most of the direct effects that we are going to see in terms of departures and client responses. I don\u2019t think the deals will have a big impact on recruiting in 2026. The exception might be Paul Weiss, which may find that it does not attract applicants with the same attitudes and interests as it might have in the past.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one expected Paul Weiss to settle so quickly. In doing so, it signaled that it was OK for other firms to do the same. I think Paul Weiss drew a lot of the anger and disappointment about the decision because lawyers felt that the firm had not only betrayed its own values, but the values of the legal profession. Rather than stand up to the executive, it capitulated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/i> Leslie Levin<\/a>, a legal ethics professor at the University of Connecticut Law School, in comments given to the American Lawyer<\/a>, concerning the fate of the law firms that settled with the Trump administration \u2014 and that of Paul, Weiss, in particular \u2014 rather than litigate against the president\u2019s retaliatory law firm executive orders.\u00a0Scott Cummings<\/a>, a legal ethics professor at UCLA School of Law, thinks that the \u201cverdict is still out\u201d for firms that capitulated, saying, \u201cThe blowback from the legal profession is incredibly strong.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Paul, Weiss \u2018Betrayed Its Own Values\u2019 When Capitulating To Trump<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ed. note<\/u>: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

I suspect that we have already seen most of the direct effects that we are going to see in terms of departures and client responses. I don\u2019t think the deals will have a big impact on recruiting in 2026. The exception might be Paul Weiss, which may find that it does not attract applicants with the same attitudes and interests as it might have in the past.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one expected Paul Weiss to settle so quickly. In doing so, it signaled that it was OK for other firms to do the same. I think Paul Weiss drew a lot of the anger and disappointment about the decision because lawyers felt that the firm had not only betrayed its own values, but the values of the legal profession. Rather than stand up to the executive, it capitulated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/i> Leslie Levin<\/a>, a legal ethics professor at the University of Connecticut Law School, in comments given to the American Lawyer<\/a>, concerning the fate of the law firms that settled with the Trump administration \u2014 and that of Paul, Weiss, in particular \u2014 rather than litigate against the president\u2019s retaliatory law firm executive orders.\u00a0Scott Cummings<\/a>, a legal ethics professor at UCLA School of Law, thinks that the \u201cverdict is still out\u201d for firms that capitulated, saying, \u201cThe blowback from the legal profession is incredibly strong.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Paul, Weiss \u2018Betrayed Its Own Values\u2019 When Capitulating To Trump<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day. I suspect that we have already seen most of the direct effects that we are going to see in terms of departures and client responses. I don\u2019t think the deals will have a big impact on recruiting in 2026. The exception might be Paul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":140936,"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-140935","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\/2026\/01\/Staci-Zaretsky-kmjATE.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140935","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=140935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}