BBA Joins Briefs Condemning Attacks on WilmerHale, Jenner & Block

Today, the BBA again joined bar associations nationwide in support of law firms targeted by executive orders, arguing that they represent an assault on the independence of the legal profession, which is tantamount to an attack on constitutional democracy and the rule of law.

The two new amicus briefs were filed in federal court, where both WilmerHale and Jenner & Block are seeking relief from orders that would cripple their business and undermine their clients’ right to counsel. Earlier this week, the BBA joined a brief that made the same arguments in the Perkins Coie case. All three briefs warn that, if allowed to stand, the orders “threaten to turn the Bar into an instrument of the executive branch.”

“These briefs represent the bar collectively rising in defense of the legal profession and the rule of law,” said BBA President Matthew V.P. McTygue. “I have just wrapped up meetings in Washington with members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation as part of ABA Day, and I was heartened not only by the support and concern they expressed but also by the opportunity to talk with colleagues from some of the other bar associations from across the country who are using this moment to resist these and other efforts to intimidate the legal profession.”

The new briefs—which were coordinated by the New York City Bar Association and drafted by Harvard Law School professor Jeannie Suk Gersen and the Protect Democracy Project—ask the US District Court for the District of Columbia to grant summary judgment for the firms and enjoin the orders.

President McTygue added, “Whether by weighing in as amici in federal court, speaking with elected officials in Washington, or partnering with organizations close to home through trainings and grants, we will continue to defend the rule of law, for which we all bear a special responsibility as lawyers.”