WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that five more law firms had agreed to devote a total of at least $600 million in free legal work to causes he supports, marking new concessions offered by major firms facing a White House pressure campaign.
The agreements mostly mirror others struck with four firms in recent weeks, requiring them to shun diversity-based employment practices the administration deems illegal and work on pro bono projects approved by the president.
Kirkland & Ellis, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher and Latham & Watkins are set to provide $125 million in pro bono work each. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft would provide at least $100 million, Trump said in posts on his Truth Social account.
In all, nine firms have pledged $940 million so far since Trump began targeting lawyers over their connections to his perceived enemies or cases he opposes.
Trump said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday that firms that settled with him “have paid me a lot of money in the form of legal fees” and that he may press them into service negotiating trade deals amid the White House’s aggressive tariff rollouts.
The president on Friday also said the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has withdrawn a probe into employment practices at Kirkland, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher and Latham as part of the agreements.
The agency’s acting chair sent letters last month to 20 law firms, warning their employment policies meant to boost diversity, equity and inclusion may be illegal and demanding responses by April 15.
Spokespeople for the five firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a joint statement shared by Trump, Kirkland, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher and Latham said they looked forward to a “continued constructive and productive relationship with President Trump and his team.” The firms said they “resolved this matter while upholding long-held principles important to each of our firms.”
Cadwalader’s managing partner Patrick Quinn said in a statement shared by Trump that the agreement was “consistent with the principles that have guided Cadwalader for over 230 years.”
The White House said in a statement that the firms with their agreements “have affirmed their strong commitment to ending the Weaponization of the Justice System and the Legal Profession.”
The agreements follow executive orders that Trump issued against five law firms he accused of subverting the legal system against him and his allies, citing their ties to his political and legal adversaries or their work related to voting rights, immigration and other cases he opposes.
The orders restricted their lawyers from accessing government buildings and officials and threatened to cancel federal contracts held by their clients.
Three of the firms, Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block, have sued over the orders and won rulings that temporarily blocked those provisions, convincing federal judges that they violated constitutional protections for speech and due process. Another, Susman Godfrey, also said it would fight Trump’s order against it.
Trump agreed to rescind an executive order against Paul Weiss after it became the first to settle with the White House, agreeing to donate $40 million in pro bono work.
Skadden Arps, Milbank and Willkie Farr reached similar deals without an executive order being issued against them, each agreeing to earmark $100 million in pro bono services for mutually agreed projects with the administration.
More than 500 law firms last week signed a court brief denouncing Trump’s targeting of Perkins Coie and other firms, expressing alarm over the president’s intensifying crackdown on the legal profession.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella, Sara Merken, David Thomas, Brendan O’Brien and Sarah Morland; Writing by David Bario; Editing by Katharine Jackson and Deepa Babington)
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