WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday rescinded an executive order targeting a prominent international law firm after it pledged to review its hiring practices and to provide tens of millions of dollars in free legal services to support certain White House initiatives.
The move follows a meeting between Trump and Brad Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Garrison & Wharton, over the White House order issued last week.
The order, the latest in a series of similar actions targeting law firms whose lawyers have provided legal work that Trump disagrees with, threatened to suspend active security clearances of attorneys at Paul, Weiss and to terminate any federal contracts the firm has. It singled out the work of Mark Pomerantz, who previously worked at the firm and who oversaw an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office into Trump’s finances before Trump became president.
To avoid those consequences, the White House said Paul, Weiss had agreed to “take on a wide range of pro bono matters that represent the full spectrum of political viewpoints of our society,” to disavow the use of diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in its hiring and promotion decisions and to dedicate the equivalent of $40 million in free legal services to support Trump administration policies on issues including assistance for veterans and countering anti-Semitism.
In a statement issued by the White House, Karp said: “We are gratified that the President has agreed to withdraw the Executive Order concerning Paul, Weiss. We look forward to an engaged and constructive relationship with the President and his Administration.”
The firm becomes the latest corporate target to make concessions to the president to avoid his ire.
Meta and ABC made settlement payments to Trump’s future presidential library to end lawsuits filed by Trump. Other tech and financial firms have publicly rolled back DEI programs in line with Trump’s policy interests.
Earlier executive orders have targeted the law firms of Perkins Coie, which last week sued in federal court in Washington, and Covington & Burling.
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