After Law Firm Deals With Trump, D.C. Bar Warns of Ethical Jeopardy

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After Law Firm Deals With Trump, D.C. Bar Warns of Ethical Jeopardy

The bar group’s ethics committee says firms that make a deal with the government may need to get waivers from clients with opposing interests.


After returning to the White House in January, President Trump began targeting law firms with orders stripping their lawyers of security clearances and barring the government from doing business with them or awarding contracts to their clients. Doug Mills/The New York Times

By Charlie Savage
Charlie Savage writes about executive power and legal policy. He reported from Washington.

Months after law firms made deals with President Trump to ward off punitive executive orders, the ethics committee of the District of Columbia Bar is warning that such arrangements may require firms to drop or obtain waivers from all clients who have interests at odds with the government.

An opinion issued by the committee this week could bring new scrutiny to several prominent law firms that chose to strike deals with Mr. Trump instead of challenging his executive orders targeting them.

Any lawyer or law firm that contemplates making a deal with a government that includes conditions that may limit or shape their practices, the opinion said, “must examine whether the arrangement would prevent the firm from providing conflict-free representation to clients — existing and new — who are adverse to the relevant government.”

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Charlie Savage writes about national security and legal policy for The Times.

A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 30, 2025, Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: D.C. Bar Group Warns About Ethical Jeopardy With Firms’ Trump Deals. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe{snip}

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1. The Bar is pissed at these firms

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