The diverging paths taken by three law firms targeted by the Trump administration show a major divide over how the legal community is responding to a White House ratcheting up the pressure.

The administration has stripped security clearances at a trio of firms, targeting one attorney at Covington & Burling and all attorneys with clearances at Perkins Coie and Paul, Weiss.

The orders for Perkins Coie and Paul, Weiss additionally barred their attorneys from entering federal buildings, which could include places like courthouses, as well as requiring federal contractors doing business with the firms to disclose the relationship.

The chair of Paul, Weiss said the move “could easily have destroyed our firm,” describing the Trump administration as bringing “the full weight of the government” down on it.

Actions have not been limited to those three firms.

Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sent letters to 20 top law firms demanding information about their employment practices, a sign it plans to target their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

And over the weekend, President Trump signed another executive order critics say will have a chilling effect on those taking on litigation against the administration — encouraging the attorney general to refer attorneys for disciplinary action if it is determined they have filed “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation”

Rachel Cohen, a former associate at Skadden who resigned over the firm’s failure to address the barrage of actions, described the moves as an “existential” matter for the profession.

“Law firms need to be united in condemning these actions and pointing out just how beyond the pale they are. And I think that they're scared to do that for a variety of reasons. The first is that big law has a deep collective action problem,” said Cohen, who last week sent a firmwide email calling on Skadden to come up with “a satisfactory response to our current moment.”

“It does just all come around........

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