“Let’s Kill All The Lawyers”

Almost half a century ago, I was a small-town lawyer in a solo practice. I drew up wills, checked titles and prepared deeds, consoled and fought for clients through divorces, incorporated small businesses, and represented kids charged with truancy or adults accused of drunk driving or disorderly conduct. My rural county had a single judge. When I crossed swords with him, he promised to retaliate against any of my clients who appeared in his court. 

I could not ethically allow clients to suffer because of his abuses of judicial power. I closed my practice and moved away. The judge’s misconduct, for which he eventually got a slap on the wrist from the state board concerned with judicial ethics, deprived my clients of representation. 

My small-town law practice has very little in common with Perkins Coie, a powerful Washington DC law firm with more than a thousand lawyers. What we do have in common is the impossibility of continuing to represent clients in a situation where legal authorities will retaliate against your clients in order to punish you. 

More than a hundred lawsuits have already been filed against the illegal and unconstitutional Trump/Musk regime’s actions. Many courts have entered orders that amount to “Stop that right now!” 

Lawyers file lawsuits. So Trump is targeting lawyers. His unprecedented actions against some lawyers are meant to intimidate any lawyer who might sue to stop his illegal and unconstitutional actions. 

During the first days of his second term, Trump revoked security clearances for some attorneys who had worked for the Biden administration. He revoked clearances and threatened others, like Mark Zaid, who has represented whistleblowers through several administrations.

Then he went after large law firms. The Washington Post reports that Trump is “sending a forceful message that he is willing to punish firms who work for people or groups that oppose his administration’s agenda.”

He started with Covington & Burling, a DC law firm that provided pro bono representation for Special Counsel Jack Smith. Trump ordered all of their lawyers’ security clearances canceled and any government contracts canceled. 

Then he went after Perkins Coie, another highly respected Washington law firm employing more than a thousand attorneys. Their offense? Representing Hillary Clinton in 2016. Again, he ordered security clearances revoked, any government contracts canceled, and an investigation of any government contracts with clients of Perkins Coie.   

But that’s only a beginning. The March 6 executive order targeting Perkins Coie directed the EEOC and the Attorney General to “review the practices of representative large, influential, or industry leading law firms” for any evidence of affirmative action, which the Trump administration has reclassified as illegal discrimination. That includes even summer student internships that reserve any spots for women or people of color. 

Tech Dirt succinctly explains:

“The order’s punitive measures are carefully crafted to effectively destroy the firm’s ability to operate. First, it effectively strips security clearances from everyone at Perkins Coie — a move that doesn’t just impact their political work, but devastates their ability to handle cybersecurity matters, represent defense contractors, or work on sensitive tech policy issues. This isn’t collateral damage — it’s a deliberate attempt to cut off the firm’s ability to represent clients in some of their core practice areas.

“Even more dangerous is the contractor ban. Any company with a federal contract — which includes most major tech companies and countless smaller ones — must now “disclose any business they do with Perkins Coie.” This creates an impossible choice for these companies: either cut ties with a trusted legal advisor or risk their government contracts. It’s a move straight out of an authoritarian playbook — using government contracts as leverage to force private companies to blacklist political enemies.

“But perhaps the most chilling aspect of the order is its attempt to bar Perkins Coie personnel from ‘federal government buildings.’…

“Let’s be crystal clear about what this means: federal government buildings include courthouses. This order could be used to physically prevent Perkins Coie lawyers from entering federal courts to represent their clients. It’s a direct assault on the fundamental right to legal representation and due process.”

Trump told Fox News, “We have a lot of law firms that we’re going to be going after.” 

More than four centuries ago, Shakespeare had something to say about going after lawyers. 

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” 

In Henry VI, Part II, Shakespeare put those words in the mouth of Dick the Butcher. Dick is the violent and murderous right-hand man of Jack Cade, who is leading a rebellion against the king. Shakespeare describes Cade as “the head of an army of rabble and a demagogue pandering to the ignorant.” (In Shakespeare’s play, Dick the Butcher and Jack Cade also want to eliminate literacy and burn all books.) 

Do you hear the echoes coming from the White House now?