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None of the nation’s top-10 firms by revenue have signed a legal brief demonstrating support for the law firm that is resisting an executive order.
- April 2, 2025Updated 1:06 p.m. ET
They are among the nation’s richest law firms and they employ some of the most loquacious litigators. But with their industry under attack from President Trump, most of these leaders of Big Law are not speaking up to defend one of their own.
For nearly three weeks, there has been a broad effort in the legal community to collect signatures from law firms for a so-called friend of the court brief supporting Perkins Coie, the first firm Mr. Trump targeted with an executive order in his ongoing retribution campaign against perceived enemies. Perkins Coie has sued and a judge has temporarily blocked the president’s order, which jeopardized its ability to represent government contractors and limited its access to federal buildings.
Most of the nation’s top firms by revenue were asked to sign the brief supporting Perkins Coie, according to people with knowledge of the matter, and all of them were made aware of the signature campaign.
But so far, none of the top 10 firms has committed to signing, even after a soft deadline came and went on Tuesday, the people with knowledge of the matter said. Only a few firms in the top 50, as ranked by American Lawyer, have committed their signatures.
The brief — drafted by Donald B. Verrilli Jr., a solicitor general during Barack Obama’s administration — is meant to be a show of strength against Mr. Trump. And ahead of the deadline, more than 200 firms in total have signed, mostly midsize and boutique firms.
Mr. Verrilli, a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson, a prominent firm but not among the nation’s top revenue generators, is expected to submit the brief in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. as soon as Friday, the people with knowledge of the matter said. Firms can still sign before then, and if the signature gathering gains momentum some larger names might ultimately appear.
