Since the start of the Trump II reign, and the attack on the rule of law that coincided with that, it’s been clear that Biglaw wasn’t going to be our savior. When directly confronted with unconstitutional Executive Orders targeting firms on Trump’s list for retribution, more than twice as many major law firm were willing to promise the president nearly a billion dollars in pro bono payola for conservative causes or clients as were willing to fight the EOs in court. Not a great look for the supposed best in the legal industry.
Part of Biglaw’s reticence to stand up for the rule of law is the tension between corporate lawyers and litigators. Corporate types want to stay on the good side of the administration to grease the wheels for deals. Conversely, litigators worried they were signaling that if a firm won’t stand up to the bullying of the Trump administration for themselves, they wouldn’t be able to do it for clients.
So what if the answer is a firm that doesn’t have that inherent conflict built into its business model? The Wall Street Journal investigates the rise of the litigation boutique. Certainly elite litigation boutiques aren’t a new concept, but they’re getting increasingly popular in the Trump era.
Whether it’s the high-profile (and growing) Dunn Isaacson created by former Paul Weiss partners (the first firm to fold to Donald Trump’s pressure), the Abbe Lowell boutique — staffed with lawyers who left their capitulating Biglaw firm, Paul Clement’s boutique coming out swinging against the Trump administration and defending Biglaw against the EOs, or Roberta Kaplan’s boutique getting more talent, these small but mighty firms are poised to take on some of the biggest cases. As Karen Dunn noted, “Clients are comfortable with boutique firms handling their most consequential litigation.”
And that smaller size is actually an advantage when taking on clients with disputes with the government. As former Skadden partner Benjamin Klubes, who started his own firm after serving as the top lawyer for the federal housing agency during the Biden administration, told the Wall Street Journal:
But he said he was disappointed by the legal industry’s reluctance to push back against Trump and wanted to start a firm that wouldn’t shy away from representing clients adverse to the government. “A lot of lawyers are taking interest and thinking about better ways to practice law in the future,” he said.
The best in the legal field is not necessarily found at the biggest law firms.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].
