Judicial Notice (04.06.25): Let’s Make A Deal
Two Biglaw firms settle with Trump, 500-plus law firms sign an amicus brief against the administration, and the NFL hires a new chief legal officer.
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I hoped that last week would be less overwhelming for me than the week before, and that hope was realized. I didn’t spend every waking minute following the news, I hit my goals of exercising and walking an average of four miles each weekday, and I got a decent amount of sleep—at least seven hours a night (excluding last night, when I stayed up late working on the Judicial Notice news roundup you’re now reading).
I once again traveled from the wilds of suburban New Jersey into Manhattan for an event—but this time I wasn’t speaking or moderating, which makes for a much more relaxing experience. I attended an event at Brooklyn Law School called Sentencing, Second Chances, and Justice, a discussion of the First Step Act (FSA) featuring Judge Frederic Block (E.D.N.Y.) and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. You can read about their thoughtful conversation in The New York Law Journal, and you can learn more about the FSA—the subject of Judge Block’s latest book—in a column I wrote for Bloomberg Law.
Speaking of events, on April 29 I’ll be moderating The Future of Adjudication, featuring former federal judge Katherine Forrest, now a partner at Paul Weiss, and Cornell Law professor Frank Pasquale. It’s free and open to the public, and lunch will be provided; I hope to see many of you there.
Now, on to the news.
Lawyers of the Week: Donald Verrilli and Nathan Eimer.
I’ve made no secret of my opposition to Donald Trump’s executive orders (EOs) attacking law firms, as well as the settlements some firms have reached with the administration to ward off the EOs, so I won’t repeat myself here. Instead, I’d like to take this opportunity to commend Donald B. Verrilli Jr., former U.S. solicitor general and current Munger Tolles partner, and Nathan P. Eimer, a top trial lawyer and founding partner of the litigation boutique Eimer Stahl, for the admirable amicus brief that they filed on Friday in Perkins Coie LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
On Wednesday, Perkins Coie moved for summary judgment in its constitutional challenge to the EO against it, and Verrilli and Eimer filed their brief in support of that motion—on behalf of 504 law firms. This passage jumped out at me:
The looming threat posed by the Executive Order at issue in this case and the others like it is not lost on anyone practicing law in this country today: any controversial representation challenging actions of the current administration (or even causes it disfavors) now brings with it the risk of devastating retaliation. Whatever short-term advantage an administration may gain from exercising power in this way, the rule of law cannot long endure in the climate of fear that such actions create. Our adversarial system depends upon zealous advocates litigating each side of a case with equal vigor; that is how impartial judges arrive at just, informed decisions that vindicate the rule of law.
It’s consistent with comments I made to Aysha Bagchi of USA Today: “If you can actually intimidate law firms into not litigating against your administration, that is hugely powerful—that will help you advance the rest of your agenda. It’s like a boxing match where you are chopping off the arms of your opponent.”
The Verrilli/Eimer brief is clear and concise, with only four pages of argument. Critics might complain that it doesn’t have much substance, but let’s be honest: saying you’re reading this brief for the legal analysis is like saying you buy Playboy for the articles. This brief isn’t about the arguments, which are being ably advanced in litigation against the EOs by Williams & Connolly, Cooley, and former U.S. solicitor general Paul Clement. The real value of this brief is that it has been signed by more than 500 law firms—and considering how difficult it can be to get lawyers to agree on anything, it makes sense that the brief is barebones, since a more substantive brief wouldn’t have been able to garner as many signatures.
If you look at the long list of signatories, you’ll see lots of elite litigation boutiques. Not many Biglaw firms joined the brief—and, in fact, last week brought more news of large firms cutting their own deals with the Trump administration (discussed under Law Firm of the Week, infra). But as noted by The American Lawyer, more than a dozen sizable firms did sign, including Arnold & Porter, Freshfields, Covington & Burling, Crowell & Moring, Davis Wright Tremaine, Foley Hoag, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, Manatt, Munger Tolles, Patterson Belknap, Susman Godfrey, Stoel Rives, Hanson Bridgett, and Fenwick & West. Good for them—and good for Don Verrilli and Nate Eimer, for drafting this brief and gathering so many supporters for it.
Other lawyers in the news:
On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced nominees for two high-ranking DOJ positions: D.C. defense lawyer Stanley Woodward for associate attorney general, the #3 job at the Department, and Ohio solicitor general Elliot Gaiser for assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). Historically, OLC has been “a powerful guardrail in American government,” delineating the limits of executive power—but thus far it has been sidelined by the current administration, as reported by Charlie Savage of The Times (gift link).
On Thursday, the Senate confirmed two top Justice Department officials, by identical votes of 52-45: John Sauer, to serve as solicitor general, and Harmeet Dhillon, to serve as assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.
The confirmation prospects of Ed Martin, Trump’s controversial pick for U.S. attorney for D.C., are uncertain. Senate Democrats are calling for a confirmation hearing, based on numerous concerns about his suitability for the role (thoroughly summarized by Professor Jack Goldsmith at Executive Functions).
In other DOJ drama, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche suspended Erez Reuveni, acting deputy director of the immigration-litigation division—and exactly why remains unclear. A 15-year veteran of that division, Reuveni conceded before Judge Paula Xinis (D. Md.) that last month’s deportation of a Salvadoran migrant with a court order
allowing him to stay in the United States was mistakenpreventing his removal to El Salvador [UPDATE (4/13/25, 2:56 p.m.): Corrected to note that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was found to be deportable—just not to El Salvador, where he could face harm.] In a statement to The Times, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote that “every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States,” and “[a]ny attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.” For additional coverage of Reuveni being placed on indefinite leave, see Howard Bashman’s How Appealing.Four former high-level aides to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton received awards totaling $6.6 million, after Travis County Judge Catherine Mauzy ruled that their firings—conducted after they came forward with corruption allegations against Paxton, back in 2020—violated that state’s whistleblower act.
Non-Lawyer of the Week: pro se litigant Jerome Dewald got benchslapped by a panel of New York State appellate judges, after attempting to use an AI avatar to argue his case. I’m more understanding of a mistake by a pro se litigant—who said he didn’t intend to mislead, but only wanted to avoid stumbling over his words—than a ChatGPT fail by lawyers from a giant firm.
In memoriam:
Robert Rifkind, a leading litigator and longtime Cravath partner, passed away at 88. Robert’s father was the late Simon Rifkind, a name partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Two of Robert’s daughters, lawyers Amy and Nina Rifkind, made headlines after sending a scathing letter to Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp—in which they condemned the firm’s settlement with Trump, then called upon Karp to “cease invoking our grandfather’s name to justify your actions.”
Christopher Keller, chairman and name partner of the prominent plaintiffs’ firm Labaton Keller Sucharow, passed away at 54, from cancer.
May they rest in peace.
Judge of the Week: Judge Susan Crawford.
On August 1, Judge Susan Crawford of Dane County Circuit Court will become Justice Susan Crawford of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Last Tuesday, the liberal jurist defeated her conservative rival, Judge Brad Schimel, by a margin of around 10 points. Their closely watched contest attracted nationwide attention—and generated nationwide fundraising. With total estimated spending of $100 million, it was—by far—the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.
Crawford prevailed despite $25 million in spending by Elon Musk, as well as personal campaigning by the world’s richest person—which made the election, in the words of The Times, “a kind of referendum on Mr. Musk and his slashing of the federal government.” Her victory showed the limits of money’s influence in politics, offering beleaguered Democrats what The Times described as “a jolt of momentum.” And it could constitute, according to The Wall Street Journal editorial board, “a warning to the GOP that the Trump-Musk governing style is stirring a backlash that could cost them control of Congress next year.”
Crawford’s win preserves the liberals’ 4-3 majority on this closely divided high court of a key battleground state. The Wisconsin Supreme Court regularly hears cases on hot-button issues—and often decides them by slim margins. One case involving the First Amendment’s religious clauses that came out of that court was argued last Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court (and it appears that the Wisconsin justices will be getting reversed, as Sarah Isgur and David French discussed on Advisory Opinions.) And the Wisconsin Supreme Court will likely rule on other controversial issues in the coming months, including abortion and labor rights.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court could also play a major role in determining the state’s new congressional maps—which could ultimately help swing one or two seats in the evenly decided state’s U.S. congressional delegation from Republican to Democratic control. As Elon Musk himself put it, in explaining the judicial race’s high stakes, “What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives…. And whichever party controls the House to a significant degree controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization.”
Other judges in the news:
Talk about anticlimactic: as widely expected (and recommended by court-appointed amicus Paul Clement), Judge Dale Ho (S.D.N.Y.) dismissed the prosecution of Mayor Eric Adams. Importantly, Ho dismissed the case with prejudice, “meaning that the Government may not bring the charges in the Indictment against Mayor Adams in the future,” as Judge Ho explained in his 78-page opinion (in which he also had some choice words for the Trump DOJ).
On Professor Akhil Amar’s podcast, Chief Judge William Pryor (11th Cir.), a leading conservative jurist, joined the chorus of judges criticizing the recent trend of trying to impeach judges over disagreement with their decisions.
Job of the Week: an opportunity for a junior to midlevel litigation associate in Houston.
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