Pearl River Ok. If you are reading the papers or watching TV, you know that President Trump has a huge chip on his shoulder about law firms that were involved in any of the cases seeking to prosecute him over recent years. His vengeance has led him to appoint many of his lawyers in those cases to government positions now, and to seek to bar firms on the other side from government work, security clearances, and, in some cases, even being able to enter government facilities. Courts have pushed back on some of these attacks when challenged by some big law firms.
Other big law firms bent the knee and came to some accommodation with the president and his people, promising to give him almost a billion dollars’ worth of pro bono, which is to say free, legal work. Many of these agreements weren’t in writing, so the firm managers are often saying this is for issues where they are in agreement, while Trump is all over the waterfront with claims that they will do his bidding on trade deals, representing police on civil rights matters, and other conservative causes of the day.
This is the state of play now, but rather than just dismiss this as another falling out among thieves, it’s worth understanding how far below the waterline this iceberg really falls. There’s a persuasive case being made that the real issue is the fact that Trump and the right really want to control pro bono work in general, way past Trump’s own grievances.
Pro bono work is big:
Overall, American lawyers contribute over 35 million hours of free counsel annually to clients in need, representing them in cases involving domestic violence, illegal evictions, family separation and more. These efforts are led by lawyers in the nation’s largest firms, with members of the top American Lawyer firms donating over five million hours last year.
That’s a lot of free work from some attorneys charging $1000 per hour. Some of these firms have shamefaced some administrations on cases involving Guantanamo, same-sex marriage, and more. Trump and his team don’t want to just turn the spigot on for their issues, they want to turn it off for all of our issues as well.
My beef is that we especially need these lawyers and their pro bono hours right now to guarantee access to health and other benefits for lower income and working families. Many of their young associates would be invaluable in handling denial appeals and law suits on arbitrary dismissals and rules, state by state, if the current budget cutbacks on food stamps and Medicaid take effect. They could also partner with nonprofits in running workshops and clinics assisting recipients in making applications and maintaining their benefits by verifying their work or work-substitution hours. Maybe some of these firms are tentative about environmental representation or almost anything that might make Trump mad, but helping ALICE families protect their health and welfare could not conflict with any of their other business, and if it does, they are representing the wrong people.
We need to ask all of these lawyers for help now. We’re going to need it.