Keker firm blasts Trump over law firm sanctions order

As President Trump's sweeping new executive order against law firms that sue his administration sent shockwaves through the legal world, Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP waded into the fracas with gusto.

Within 24 hours of the order's signing, the San Francisco law firm issued a blistering statement condemning the directive, which threatens sanctions against lawyers who challenge the federal government.

"An attack on lawyers who perform this work is inexcusable and despicable," the partners declared, calling on peers to defend the rule of law and support Perkins Coie's legal challenge against the administration.

"Trump's new Executive Order underscores how far removed this President, Attorney General and Administration are from our nation's Constitution and bedrock values," read a statement the firm issued Saturday. "Our liberties depend on lawyers' willingness to represent unpopular people and causes, including in matters adverse to the Federal Government."

The statement was signed by name partners John W. Keker, Robert A. Van Nest and Elliot R. Peters, managing partner Laurie Carr Mims, "and the Keker, Van Nest & Peters Partnership."

The firm was responding to an executive order that Trump signed Friday night, fresh off a deal with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. The order, entitled "Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court," threatens to sanction "attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable and vexatious litigation against the United States."

Trump had already sanctioned Paul Weiss, Covington & Burling LLP, and Perkins Coie LLP for work that challenged his first administration or targeted him personally. The sanctions against Paul Weiss and Perkins Coie bar their attorneys from obtaining security clearances or entering federal buildings. Sanctions against Covington were much narrower.

Covington represented special counsel Jack Smith in the Jan. 6, 2021 investigation. Perkins Coie, a longtime legal ally of the Democratic Party, sued Trump after being sanctioned and secured a temporary restraining order blocking the action.

Among Paul Weiss' offenses, according to Trump, was that a former partner worked in the Manhattan DA's office on a criminal investigation of him. Last Wednesday, firm chairman Brad S. Karp visited the White House and struck a deal requiring Paul Weiss to commit $40 million to pro bono work on issues including antisemitism. Trump later claimed on social media that the firm agreed to end all DEI efforts -- a claim Karp denied.

The deal, coupled with major firms' reluctance to join a planned amicus brief supporting Perkins Coie, sent shockwaves through the legal world. One associate at Skadden's Chicago office reportedly quit over the firm's refusal to sign on. The brief, drafted by former Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. of Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, has yet to be filed.

Keker, which has 140 lawyers, has a long history of defiance -- partner John Keker became a national figure when he served as chief trial counsel in the prosecution of Lt. Col. Oliver North during the Iran-Contra scandal. The firm's weekend statement came with a list of cases it has filed against both the Trump administrations.

Among them, the firm has been at the forefront of major civil rights and constitutional litigation, often partnering with the ACLU and other advocacy groups to challenge unlawful government actions.

Its cases include representing farmworkers and Kern County residents in a suit against federal immigration agencies for unconstitutional raids; securing a record $1.32 million settlement for families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under the Trump administration; and winning a nationwide injunction against Trump's 2017 order to defund sanctuary cities.

Keker has also successfully challenged the Trump-era Muslim travel ban, fought for the release of an unlawfully detained disabled teen refugee, and blocked restrictive federal regulations threatening access to reproductive healthcare in California.

The Keker partners concluded their statement by encouraging "law firm leaders to sign on to an amicus effort in support of Perkins Coie's challenge to the Administration's executive order targeting the firm, and to resist the Administration's erosion of the rule of law."

New York Times News Syndicate contributed to this report.