As the second administration of Donald Trump approached, organizations geared up for how to deal with being targeted by him given his constant Twitter attacks during his first term. Recently, two major law firms that do or have worked for people Trump views as enemies have been singled out. These firms are in a major crisis that’s difficult to navigate.

On March 6, Trump signed an executive order aimed at Perkins Coie LLP, a Seattle-based firm with more than 1,000 lawyers. We know the order targets that firm because it’s entitled “Addressing Risks From Perkins Coie LLP.” It directs agencies to suspend the firm’s security clearances, so its lawyers can’t represent certain clients, and end its government contracts and access to federal buildings. (The firm has a large Washington, D.C., office.)

Now, that’s an existential crisis. Clearly, Donald Trump is not a Perkins Coie fan. The order cites both the firm’s work for his political opponent, Hillary Clinton, and its DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) practices. Trump previously attacked the firm because it hired the opposition-research outfit that commissioned the now mostly discredited Steele Dossier, which alleged Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election.

‘Patently Unlawful’

As far as we can tell, at first Perkins Coie responded only with a one-line statement attributed to a law-firm spokesperson and quoted widely in the press: “We have reviewed the executive order. It is patently unlawful, and we intend to challenge it.”

But on Tuesday, the firm, represented by litigation powerhouse Williams & Connolly LLP, sued the administration. The order’s “plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the president perceives as adverse to the views of his administration,” according to the complaint. On Wednesday, the judge temporarily (at least) blocked the order.

On Feb. 25, Trump had signed a similar executive order that targeted the lawyers at Washington, D.C.-based Covington & Burling LLP who represent Jack Smith, the former special prosecutor who brought federal cases against Trump that were dropped once he was reelected. The administration is now investigating Smith.

'Individual Capacity'

“We recently agreed to represent Jack Smith when it became apparent that he would become a subject of a government investigation,” CNN quoted a Covington spokesman in response to the order last month. “Covington serves as defense counsel to Jack Smith in his personal, individual capacity.”

These are tepid public responses (though lawsuit complaints are at least partly for public consumption). Trying to stay mostly below the radar is understandable; being targeted by the president of the United States is not your everyday crisis. The firms don’t want to invite further wrath. But we suspect they will have to become more strident in publicly defending themselves, which they can do on First Amendment (freedom of speech and assembly) and Sixth Amendment (right to effective assistance of counsel) grounds.

We have evidence that other Big Law firms may be similarly targeted. “We have a lot of law firms that we’re going to be going after because they were very dishonest people,” Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Photo Credit: MLambousis/Shutterstock

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter on crisis communications. Each week we highlight a crisis story in the news or a survey or study with an eye toward the type of best practices and strategies you can put to work each day. Click here to subscribe.