President Trump’s use of executive orders to punish law firms tied to political opponents has sparked fear across the legal profession, leading some firms to quietly scale back or reject pro bono work on causes …
Month: April 2025
US law firms quietly scrub DEI references from websites to appease Trump
Facing pressure from President Trump’s administration, nearly two dozen top U.S. law firms have quietly removed references to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from their websites and adjusted descriptions of pro bono work to align …
Law firms pledge almost $1 billion in free work to Trump
Nearly a dozen of America’s top law firms have pledged a staggering $940 million in pro bono legal services to Donald Trump, with commitments expected to grow. These firms, including giants like Latham & Watkins …
“An Attack on All of Us”: Judges Condemn Threats to Judicial Independence
At an April 10 panel hosted by the National Constitution Center, four federal judges—Michelle Childs (D.C. Circuit), Margaret McKeown (9th Circuit), Beth Bloom (S.D. Fla.), and Stephen Bough (W.D. Mo.)—issued a stark warning: escalating threats, …
Butler (2011), The Russian Legal Practitioner
Tracks the evolution of the legal profession in Russia. Includes a translation of the post-Soviet law on the legal profession.
Hendley and Solomon, Jr. (2024), The Judicial System of Russia
Overview of the Russian courts. Includes chapters dealing with political cases and the legal profession.
Kaminskaya (1982), Final Judgment: My Life as a Soviet Defense Attorney
Memoir of defense lawyer who was active during the 1960s. She shares her experiences representing prominent Soviet dissidents and the extent to which the bar association supported her.
Lehoucq and Taylor (2019), Conceptualizing Legal Mobilization: How Should We Understand the Deployment of Legal Strategies?
Sets forth a systematic conceptualization of legal mobilization and situates it within a typology of uses of the law.
Müller (1992), Hitler’s Justice: The Courts of the Third Reich
The role of the legal institution during the rise of Nazi Germany.
Sommerlad, Abel, and Hammerslev (2022), Lawyers in 21st-Century Societies: Vol. 2: Comparisons and Theories
Since 1988, global shifts—driven by neoliberalism, globalization, technological change, and the fall of the Soviet bloc—have transformed the legal profession, prompting a comparative analysis of its structure, roles, and challenges across issues like diversity, ethics, access to justice, and legal education.