Paul Weiss Escapes Executive Order After $40 Million Pro Bono Pledge

In March 2025, President Trump rescinded an executive order that had targeted the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison after the firm agreed to provide the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services for causes the administration favors, including veterans' issues, and to review its hiring practices. The original order, prompted partly by the firm's past association with a prosecutor who investigated Trump, had threatened to strip attorneys' security clearances and cut off federal contracts. The episode mattered as the opening move in a broader campaign in which the White House used executive orders and the threat of them to pressure major law firms into concessions, raising questions about coercion of the legal profession and the independence of firms that represent clients opposed to the administration. The deal proved contentious inside the firm; several partners left afterward in protest. It set a template that other large firms would follow in the following weeks, agreeing to similar pro bono commitments to avoid becoming targets themselves.