Doug Emhoff's law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher reaches deal with Trump

By Jack Queen, Trevor Hunnicutt and David Thomas

(Reuters) - (This April 1 story has been corrected to show that Willkie has agreed to not engage in illegal diversity-related employment practices, not that it will end diversity-based hiring practices, in paragraph 2)

The law firm of former Vice President Kamala Harris's husband struck a deal with Donald Trump to avert an executive order targeting its business, becoming the latest firm to cut a deal with the U.S. president as he seeks to punish perceived enemies in the legal profession.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher, whose partners include Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, agreed to provide $100 million in free legal services to mutually agreed-upon projects with the Trump administration and not to engage in illegal diversity-related employment practices.

Major law firms with ties to attorneys who have investigated Trump or which have been involved in challenges to his policies have been targeted with executive orders aimed at restricting their business with the federal government. 

Law firms Paul Weiss and Skadden & Arps also reached agreements with the administration, as the divide between how to respond to Trump deepens in the legal community. Three firms have challenged the administration in court and two judges struck down key provisions of the orders on Friday.

Willkie Farr's leadership said in an internal email seen by Reuters that the deal prevents Trump from signing an executive order that could have imperiled the firm and its clients, though it acknowledged dissent about the decision. 

"We know this news is not welcomed by some of you and you would have urged a different course of action. Needless to say, this was an incredibly difficult decision for Firm leadership," Willkie Farr's executive committee said in the email. 

Emhoff, whose wife served in the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, told Willkie Farr's leadership that he disagreed with a decision to seek a deal with the Trump administration and said they should fight back, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. 

Emhoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During an event Tuesday at Georgetown Law School before the deal was announced, he told students: "The rule of law is under attack," and "lawyers need to do what we can to push back." 

In a statement announcing the deal with Willkie Farr on Tuesday, the White House said the firm "proactively reached out to President Trump and his Administration, offering their decisive commitment to ending the Weaponization of the Justice System and the Legal Profession." 

Willkie Farr Chairmen Thomas Cerabino and Matthew Feldman said in a statement that the "substance" of the firm's agreement with Trump "is consistent with our firm’s longstanding practices." 

Willkie Farr employs 1,200 lawyers in the U.S. and five other countries.

Three law firms - Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block - have sued the administration over executive orders seeking to cancel their contracts with the government and block their attorneys from accessing federal buildings.

Judges have blocked key provisions of those orders. One said it was "disturbing" that Jenner appeared to be targeted for its representation of transgender people and immigrants, and another said the WilmerHale order would have "severe" spillover effects on the justice system.

Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Jenner are among more than a dozen law firms representing plaintiffs in legal challenges to Trump's policies.

In striking deals with the administration to rescind or avoid similar orders against them, Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps said they would earmark money for free legal services for mutually agreeable projects with the White House.

Skadden Executive Partner Jeremy London said in a statement that it had engaged proactively with Trump in the interests of clients, employees and the firm.

(Reporting by Jack Queen, David Thomas and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates)