Green, Bruce A. and Wald, Eli, Lawyers, the Rule of Law, and the Executive Orders Targeting Law Firms (July 12, 2026). U Denver Legal Studies Research Paper No. 26-12, 78 Okla. L. Rev. XXX (2026), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=7113919

In the spring of 2025, President Trump issued a series of executive orders, and threatened to issue more, sanctioning major American law firms largely in retaliation for their choice of clients and causes. The legal community widely perceived this move as an attack on the rule of law, in large part because the executive orders were designed to restrict future clients’ access to legal assistance, which is regarded as essential to the fair administration of justice, especially in disputes with the government. Four law firms targeted by the executive orders brought so-far successful constitutional challenges, while one targeted firm, along with others that anticipated being targeted, entered into agreements with the President requiring the firms, among other things, to donate pro bono services to mutually acceptable clients and causes. The litigating firms and their counsel were lauded for defending the rule of law, while the law firms that settled or declined to join amicus briefs opposing the executive orders faced criticism. Although rules of professional conduct do not impose an enforceable obligation on lawyers to protect and defend the rule of law, the authors suggest that the legal profession has a collective obligation to defend the rule of law, and that individual lawyers and law firms have an obligation to contribute. Further, BigLaw firms are particularly well situated and predisposed to assume this role, given their resources, their elite professional status, and their traditional and ongoing cultural commitment to the rule of law in other respects. Like several other scholars, the authors therefore ask why many or most BigLaw firms abdicated what might be regarded as their professional responsibility. Their answer is that the abstract obligation to defend the rule of law is insufficiently articulated, unenforceable, and informal, while the market incentives to maintain good working relations with the executive branch are more tangible and compelling. The organized bar, however, could endeavor to change law firms’ calculus in the future by better articulating and formalizing lawyers’ professional obligation to protect and defend the rule of law.

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