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Adolf Hitler s personal attorney was named Hans Frank. He was one of 10 war criminals hanged at Nuremberg.
I offer this fact as a historical extreme, the ultimate cautionary tale of what happens when a lawyer enthusiastically goes along with and embraces his client s worst instincts.
But there is a point well before that a point where lawyers and law firms of good conscience should say No more. When it is no longer acceptable to assist and enable a client who does and says abhorrent things.
I m looking at you, the silent lawyers who represent Donald Trump.
Of course everyone even the most sadistic serial killer deserves to be represented by counsel. And that s why there are criminal defense lawyers. They do honorable and important work.
This is different. Big law firms, the ones billing Trump and his family members full-freight can make moral decisions about whom they choose to represent, whose agenda they want to help advance.
Before Trump dissolved his two business advisory councils on Wednesday (or they dissolved themselves, depending on which narrative you credit), the CEOs from Campbell Soup Co., 3M, Merck, Intel and Under Armor, the president of the AFL-CIO and the head of the Alliance for American Manufacturing all resigned their council posts, protesting the president s remarks blaming many sides for the violence in Charlottesville.
These CEOs refused to be complicit and Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, who is black, was particularly attacked by the president for taking a stand.
The Republican Jewish Coalition broke with Trump on Wednesday as well, calling on him to provide greater moral clarity in rejecting racism, bigotry, and antisemitism. The commandant of the Marine Corps tweeted "No place for racial hatred or extremism in @USMC. Other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed similar sentiments on social media.
But what about the government lawyers who work for the president? Or the law firms like Kasowitz Benson Torres and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and Jones Day that represent Trump? Where is their indignation? The moment that you d see in a movie, where the good guy says I don t want your money anymore! and throws it to the ground?
So that s apparently not happening.
I reached out to spokespeople at all three firms; my colleague Katelyn Polantz also attempted to contact firm leaders directly.