As opponents of U.S. President Donald Trump's rapid-fire executive actions turn to the courts, at least eight of the largest corporate law firms in the country have signed on to represent plaintiffs leading the fight in the past two weeks.
All eight firms, which include WilmerHale, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block and Arnold & Porter, also challenged Trump policies during his first term, such as restrictions on immigration from some majority Muslim countries.
They are again representing or working alongside liberal advocacy groups and other challengers, adding legal firepower to lawsuits targeting Trump's expansive new crackdown on illegal immigration and transgender rights, and the administration's firing of officials and crippling of federal spending on health research and foreign aid.
On Tuesday, the appearance of private law firms in the cases drew the ire of Trump's billionaire ally Elon Musk in a post on his social media platform X.
"Which law firms are pushing these anti-democratic cases to impede the will of the people?" the Tesla CEO wrote, without naming any firm.
The WilmerHale firm, which sued administration officials on Wednesday on behalf of U.S. agency inspectors general fired by Trump, has represented Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla in litigation. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WilmerHale partner Seth Waxman said attorney-client privilege rules barred him from discussing the firm's involvement in the new case or other client work.
Other firms suing the administration declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment on their involvement in the cases or Musk's statements. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
WORKING PRO BONO
Ethics rules prohibit taking cases where the interests of one client directly conflict with those of another, but that does not require all clients to agree on their lawyers' cases, legal experts said.
"The interests of a big law firm and those of its clients are not necessarily in lock step," said ethics scholar Stephen Gillers of New York University School of Law. "A law firm can support legal action, including pro bono, with which one, more, or all of its clients disagree without violating any duty to clients."
Corporate law firms regularly work on lawsuits involving public policy questions pro bono, or free of charge, especially litigation that requires extensive legal resources to mount or sustain a case.
Musk's post to his 217 million X followers on Tuesday highlighted the risk of attention such cases may bring in the divisive Trump era, legal experts said.
Law firm political action committees gave about $3.7 million to Democratic candidates and about $4.7 million to Republicans in the 2023-2024 U.S. election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by non-profit Open Secrets.
Large law firms with PACs typically split donations between both parties and often favor the more dominant party. Arnold & Porter's PAC, for example, gave $54,000 to Democrats and $80,000 to Republicans in the 2024 cycle, according to Open Secrets' data.
Trump has moved swiftly since retaking the White House to throttle illegal immigration, dismantle racial diversity programs, reverse transgender protections and assert direct control over federal spending and personnel.
Advocacy groups, grant recipients, Democratic state attorneys general and others have filed more than 50 lawsuits challenging the administration's moves. The eight large firms, which each employ hundreds of lawyers, appear on 11 of those cases. Some smaller law firms are also involved in cases against the administration.
Among the cases, Arnold & Porter partnered with advocacy groups to sue over Trump’s bid to end automatic birthright citizenship in the United States. Perkins Coie is representing plaintiffs suing over Trump's restrictions on transgender military service. Jenner & Block is also involved in litigation related to transgender rights and is suing to restore research funding cuts.
About two dozen of the largest U.S. law firms that were active in lawsuits during Trump's first term have not yet appeared in new cases.
Christopher Clark, a lawyer with Lambda Legal who manages its pro bono work with law firms, said the gay and transgender advocacy group would likely require more firms' participation as litigation with the administration expands.
"Based on what we’ve seen so far, we’re going to be very, very busy," Clark said.
