Trump's deals with law firms are like deals 'made with a gun to the head,' lawyers say [View all]
Source: NPR
May 31, 2025 5:00 AM ET
Veteran lawyers have reached a curious conclusion about President Trump's deals with big law firms this year: they do not appear to be legally valid. Trump since coming to office has punished certain firms for their past clients or causes, stripping them of security clearances and government contracts, while trumpeting deals with others, including titans like Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins.
The White House said the nine firms it's settled with agreed to provide about $1 billion in pro bono services in order to curtail investigations into their hiring practices and maintain access to federal buildings. But the details of those agreements remain murky, even after Democratic lawmakers demanded answers. "The problem with the law firm deals is … they're not deals at all," said Harold Hongju Koh, a professor and former dean at Yale Law School. "You know, a contract that you make with a gun to your head is not a contract."
Most every American law student takes a course about contracts. And there, Koh said, they learn there needs to be a meeting of the minds. In many cases, what Trump has said in news conferences and social media posts about those deals does not match what the law firms communicated to their partners. The pro bono commitments started with agreements to help military veterans. But Trump has moved the bar since to include trade deals, immigration enforcement cases and perhaps even defending police officers under investigation for misconduct.
Even in the context of a veteran, Koh said, "what if the veteran is gay or wants to have transgender surgery? Would they approve of that? So that lack of clarity and specificity is all the more reason why there's no deal and no meeting of the minds."
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/31/nx-s1-5406173/trump-deals-law-firms
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