Rachel Cohen
Appearances
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
I am forced to hope that our lack of response to the Trump administration's attacks on our peers is rooted in feelings of fear and powerlessness as opposed to tacit agreement or desire to maximize profit.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
We do not have time. It is now or never, and if it is never, I will not continue to work here.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
The breaking point was a combination of two things. The first was feeling confident that I had done everything in my power other than resigning. But what was ultimately the triggering event was Paul Weiss's decision to capitulate to the Trump administration to get him to rescind an executive order that he had issued against them.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
I think it's important to note that the Paul Weiss executive order was issued after a judge had already issued a temporary restraining order for a very, very similar executive order levied against the law firm Perkins Coie. In a normal functioning American legal dynamic, you would never issue a near identical executive order to one that had just been functionally enjoined.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
And a law firm certainly would not then refuse to fight that executive order.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
There's two pieces of the settlement that troubled me, and you've identified them. The first is this agreement to provide the $40 million in pro bono legal services. And so you have associates at a firm that has always held itself out to be kind of at the cutting edge of important pro bono work and justice work in addition to their billable obligations.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
You have these associates that are now being told that their firm is going to provide millions of dollars worth of free legal support to the Trump administration to advance its aims. So that's the first thing. But the second thing that troubled me is that they committed to a – I think I have to trust that they are and be proactive here. Yeah.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
I think if I hear that and I'm a client, I'm questioning why I'm paying $3,000 an hour for a law firm that doesn't think it can win a legal battle over an executive order that has functionally already been enjoined.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
I think that picking a fight with big law is one prong of his multi-pronged attack on the judiciary system. He's intimidating judges. He is ignoring judges' orders and deporting people over them. And I think that his goal here is to kneecap effective pro bono representation and public interest representation challenging him.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
Trump administration's telling us, I don't care how the courts decide, but also it's even easier for me if there aren't lawyers willing to go there in the first place.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
I think that the first step collectively is going to be rhetoric. It's going to be putting out a statement saying we're committed to continued representation, whether it is representation that the Trump administration views as supportive of it or adverse to it. But then the next step of collective action has to be putting their money where their mouth is.
Consider This from NPR
Trump targets Big Law, and Big Law appears intimidated
I'm not focused on that piece at this moment because right now I can't even get their mouth there.