A litigation boutique based in Oakland, California, representing plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil litigation.
The Norton Law Firm Files Amicus Brief in the D.C. Circuit on Behalf of Attorneys In Support of Permanent Injunction of Executive Orders Targeting Law Firms
As Shakespeare aptly predicted, the first thing authoritarians do is remove lawyers from the playing field. See William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II, Act IV, Scene II.
The Norton Law Firm represents a large group of elite attorneys previously affiliated with premier large law firms across the country who came together to help defend the rule of law and the sanctity of attorney-client relationships. The group weighed in as amici in the consolidated appeals pending before the D.C. Circuit in Perkins Coie LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice, No. 25-5241, Jenner & Block LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice, No. 25-5265, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP v. Executive Office of the President, No. 25-5277, and Susman Godfrey LLP v. Executive Office of the President, No. 25-5310.
Shortly after taking office, President Trump issued a series of Executive Orders warning attorneys to stay away from representations that did not align with the Administration or his agenda. Six such orders named individual law firms and levied punishments against them, including banning all employees associated with the firms from federal employment, forbidding entry by their attorneys into federal buildings, and suspending all contracts with the firms. The orders further required all federal contractors to disclose their relationships with the targeted firms.
Four of the firms—Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey—obtained summary judgments that permanently enjoined the Executive Orders. The Administration appealed.
The Norton Law Firm’s amicus brief argues that the Executive Orders chill free speech and attorney-client representations not only in the targeted firms but across all major law firms by threatening to punish firms that represent clients adverse to the Administration by preventing them from effectively representing any clients that must engage with the federal government, including those who require regulatory reviews and approvals. As attorneys formerly associated with major law firms, our clients are uniquely positioned to speak to the devastating impacts the Orders have had on business and public interest representations.
“The intent of the Executive Orders and their dangerous threat to attorney-client relationships and the rule of law is clear. They seek to remove prominent major firms from any client representations disfavored by the Administration,” said George Harris, lead counsel and partner at The Norton Law Firm. “By submitting this brief, lawyers uniquely able to explain the nature of that threat have stepped forward to do so.”
The D.C. Circuit’s decision will have large ramifications for the role of lawyers in our society. Read the amicus brief here. The Norton team included George Harris, Josephine Petrick, Hayley Landman, Gil Walton, and Jacob Bedwell.