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By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
(Reuters) -A fourth major law U.S. law firm, Milbank, struck a deal on Wednesday with Donald Trump amid the U.S. president's campaign against perceived enemies within the legal industry, while another law firm fought back in court against an executive order targeting its business.
New York-headquartered Milbank committed $100 million in free legal services to mutually agreed-upon initiatives with the White House and said it would not engage in diversity-based hiring, mirroring the deals Trump has reached with other law firms that he threatened to punish for being ideologically biased and unfair to him.
Also on Wednesday, law firm Perkins Coie asked a judge in Washington to throw out Trump's executive order sanctioning the firm over its hiring practices and legal work for Democrat Hillary Clinton, calling the directive a threat to both the firm and the legal profession writ large.
The moves underscored a deepening divide within the legal industry over how to respond to the series of actions Trump has taken targeting major law firms, with some fighting back in court and others cutting deals similar to Milbank's.
In a letter to Milbank's employees seen by Reuters, firm Chairman Scott Edelman said the firm only made commitments to the government that it was "happy to make."
The letter does not say Trump was mulling an executive order against Milbank, but says the administration approached the firm with concerns about its pro bono and diversity initiatives, suggesting it make a deal.
"The administration’s expressed concerns about big law firms, and in some cases its entry of Executive Orders against particular firms, have created uncertainty for law firms like ours. With this agreement, we believe we have gone a long way to putting these issues behind us," Edelman said.
Edelman was one of a dozen prominent law firm leaders who signed onto a January 4, 2021, letter calling on the U.S. Congress to certify Democrat Joe Biden's 2021 presidential victory over Trump.
Trump to date has signed executive orders targeting five firms aimed at curbing their business with the federal government. All of the firms either have ties to attorneys who have investigated Trump or have been involved in challenges to Trump's policies.
Three law firms - Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block - sued to block Trump's orders and convinced judges to block key provisions of them while the litigation plays out.
In a Wednesday court filing, Perkins Coie asked a judge to extend a block on the order, saying that allowing it to stand would "set a grave precedent" by permitting the president to punish lawyers for their choice of clients.
The firm, which is seeking a permanent injunction blocking the order, said permitting Trump's order to stand would put its "solvency and very existence at risk."
The Trump administration urged the judge to dismiss the case in a Wednesday court filing, saying Perkins Coie's claims about the order's impact were “pure conjecture and speculation."
'SEVERE' SPILLOVER EFFECTS
Milbank and Perkins Coie are among more than a dozen prominent U.S. law firms that are representing clients in lawsuits against the Trump administration challenging various policies and personnel moves since he began his second term as president in January.
Neal Katyal, a Milbank partner and vocal Trump critic, currently represents a former federal official suing over what she said was her wrongful termination from a board overseeing employment complaints by government workers.
Katyal, a former acting U.S. solicitor general under Democratic President Barack Obama, also represented Hawaii in the state's challenge to the first Trump administration's ban on people from certain Muslim countries entering the U.S.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the deal.
Two other firms, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, whose partners include former Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, and Skadden Arps, reached agreements with Trump preemptively.
Wall Street law firm Paul Weiss cut a deal with Trump after being hit with an executive order suspending security clearances for its lawyers and restricting their access to federal buildings and officials.
Law firm Covington & Burling has been hit with a more limited order but has not sued.
The firms that have sued Trump have asserted that his orders are retaliatory and violated U.S. constitutional protections for free speech and due process.
Two U.S. judges on March 28 temporarily blocked key parts of Trump's orders targeting Jenner & Block and WilmerHale.
One judge 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.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella in Washington, David Thomas in Chicago, and Sara Merken and Jack Queen in New York; Writing by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Noeleen Walder and Leslie Adler)
