President Donald Trump has strong-armed one of the world’s largest law firms into agreeing to do $100 million worth of work, pro bono, for his administration.
Trump announced the shakedown on Truth Social on Friday, writing that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, the world’s fifth-largest law firm, would offer free work on issues deemed a priority by the White House.
Also on Friday, in an Oval Office briefing, Trump admitted the deal was “essentially a settlement.”
The agreement comes after Trump threatened to make Skadden the next major law firm to be targeted by an executive order. Trump has recently gone after firms he claims wrongly pursued him and his allies in the aftermath of his 2020 election defeat.
Trump said that Skadden agreed to several concessions to avoid retribution.
Among them, the firm reportedly agreed to fund fellowships for law school graduates working on MAGA-aligned projects; provide free representation to some veterans, active duty soldiers, and law enforcement; eliminate its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives; and represent clients, regardless of their political affiliation.
Trump’s attacks on other firms have been challenged by the courts and by the targeted firms’ own lawyers.
An executive order on Thursday suspended the security clearance for WilmerHale, a firm that once employed former FBI director Robert Mueller, who probed Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 election as special counsel.
Trump’s order claimed the firm’s lawyers “weaponize” the U.S. legal system and engage in “partisan representations” by offering legal services for free to groups, individuals, or organizations it politically aligns with.
WilmerHale said it plans to fight Trump’s actions in court, writing in a statement: “We look forward to pursuing all appropriate remedies to this unlawful order.”
Skadden took a different route, seemingly placating Trump’s demands to avoid repercussions or a prolonged legal fight with the sitting president of the United States.
The firm’s decision comes a week after a now-former Skadden associate, Rachel Cohen, went viral for writing a conditional resignation letter that would go into effect if her firm agreed to Trump’s demands.
“If being on this career path demands I accept that my industry—because this is certainly not unique to Skadden—will allow an authoritarian government to ignore the courts, I refuse to take it any further,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “As I have said before, others stand to lose far, far more than a paycheck.”
