Microsoft Drops Law Firm That Made a Deal With Trump From a Case

[Mr. Sparkle]

Source: NY Times

When big law firms attacked by President Trump decided to make a deal with him rather than fight, many did so because their leaders feared that clients would abandon a firm caught on the administration’s bad side. Now that logic may be getting less compelling. A major company, Microsoft, has dropped a law firm that settled with the administration in favor of one that is fighting it.

Large companies like Microsoft often farm out legal work to dozens or even hundreds of firms and may move business depending on circumstances, like pricing, expertise or potential conflicts. Microsoft declined to comment on why it changed law firms in a significant case last week, but the switch suggests that a firm that chose to fight the Trump administration could still attract an important client.

On April 22, several attorneys at the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett informed the Delaware Court of Chancery that they would no longer be representing Microsoft in a case related to the company’s 2023 acquisition of the video game giant Activision Blizzard, according to court filings.

On the same day that the Simpson Thacher lawyers filed paperwork withdrawing from the Microsoft case, at least three partners at the firm Jenner & Block informed the court that they would be representing Microsoft in the case. Jenner is fighting in court to permanently block a Trump administration executive order targeting its business.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/business/microsoft-drops-trump-compliant-law-firm.html

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. Hard to believe a $1M donor to Trump's inauguration gives a shit about which law firms also caved to Trump.

[Irish_Dem]

6. I think it more about not wanting a law firm that is weak and unwilling to fight.

[LiberalArkie]

7. I am thinking that the $1M was just extortion or protection money to the mob.

$1M will protect you from us hurting you. But it does nothing if the mob decides to burn down the whole block so it can build a condo's.

We won't go after Microsoft, Apple, Meta etc directly, but we never said we would not enact tariffs that might put you out of business.

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. Don't trust a law firm that won't fight for itself

These weak firms did not do themselves a favor.

[Biophilic]

3. Well of course they would drop them.

Why would Microsoft want a law firm that caved to trump when they were fighting a lawsuit from the trump administration against them? The law firm had caved to trump once why trust them not to cave again?

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Such a silly article. Clear as mud, too. ...

You did a much better job, summing it up, than the reporter did.

❤️

[ananda]

11. The writer is somewhat illiterate.

The title alone is very poorly phrased.

[Cha]

5. Kick for MS.. TY!

[progressoid]

8. I'm old enough to remember when Microsoft was not looked favorably around here.

Good times. Good times.

[Fullduplexxx]

9. i dont see anyone singing them praises

[CitizenZero]

10. Microsoft

I was never a fan of Microsoft- both their products and their business practices. That said, Bill Gates turned out to be a decent humanitarian and philanthropist who used his vast wealth responsibly. If these other billionaire tech bros were more like Gates than Musk, we might not be in the bad political situation that we are stuck with right now. Power should go to righteous and compassionate people, not to the morally defective.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. Law firms that struck deals with the White House thought it'd protect their bottom line. What if their assumptions were

Law firms that struck deals with the White House thought it’d protect their bottom line. What if their assumptions were wrong?
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lo526msjqk2b

Law firms that struck deals with Trump thought it’d protect their bottom line. But what if their assumptions had it backwards?

Larger arc: It's not too late for the firms that chose presidential appeasement to change course.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/microsoft-drops-law-firm-appeased-trump-hires-firm-s-fighting-trump-rcna204152

When Donald Trump launched an unprecedented offensive against prominent law firms, the businesses faced a difficult decision. If they appeased the president, they’d (theoretically) avoid White House punishments — penalties that the firms’ clients might have a problem with — but their reputations would suffer.....

As for the firms that went along with the White House’s demands, the news is far less good. Not only are the firms starting to realize that their deals with the president are worse than they first realized, at least one of the firms is also learning that the plan to keep prominent clients happy might be backfiring. The New York Times reported that Microsoft “has dropped a law firm that settled with the administration in favor of one that is fighting it.”

Large companies like Microsoft often farm out legal work to dozens or even hundreds of firms and may move business depending on circumstances, like pricing, expertise or potential conflicts. Microsoft declined to comment on why it changed law firms in a significant case last week, but the switch suggests that a firm that chose to fight the Trump administration could still attract an important client.

While the reporting has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, the switch has been confirmed in official court filings. About a week ago, attorneys at one firm — Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which recently reached an agreement with Trump and his team — informed a court in Delaware that it would no longer be representing Microsoft in an acquisitions case......

In the meantime, firms are also contending with a new pressure campaign. NBC News reported last week that a progressive group has launched a media campaign targeting the same firms that have already reached deals with the president.

‘Big law, stop bending the knee,’ reads a poster from the ‘Big Law Cowards’ campaign by the liberal nonprofit group Demand Justice. The group says the ads will be wheatpasted strategically around Washington on Thursday near the locations of the firms that have reached deals with the administration. The group will also have a mobile billboard circulating with ads criticizing the firms, along with a broader digital campaign.

In case this isn’t obvious, the underlying point of these efforts isn’t to chastise the firms for making the wrong decision; it’s to remind the firms that it’s not too late to reverse course and join the ranks of the firms resisting Trump’s gambit.