I can't prove, and neither can anyone else, that a computer is alive or not or conscious or not or whatever. I mean, all that stuff is always going to be a matter of faith. But... What I can say is that this emphasis on trying to make the models seem like they're freestanding new entities does blind us to some ways we could make them better. So how can we make artificial intelligence better? That's this week on The Gray Area. New episodes every Monday.
Hey everyone, Ellie here wishing you a happy Friday. Well, I'm going to talk this week. about the targeting of various law firms by Donald Trump. As you'll see, I think it's a very important, interesting and complex issue. Let me just say before we get in by way of disclosure. I worked at one of the targeted firms, Covington & Burling. It was my first job out of law school from
2000 until 2004 when I left to go to the SDNY. I had a great professional and personal experience. I have lifelong friends there, and I still feel some sense of loyalty to the firm. So I'll tell you that.
You can factor that in however you'd like. I also have good friends or medium friends at every one of the targeted firms. There's sort of a limited universe of these elite law firms where people tend to go after they leave the Justice Department or SDNY. So we all kind of know each other. So again. Factor that in as you will. I wasn't sure if I wanted to say anything about this, but I can now because it's already over. And so I'm not doing it just to solicit well wishes or anything like that.
But I turned 50 this week. Yeah, 5-0 yesterday on Thursday. I feel good. I feel old. but I feel good. I think you can feel both of those things at the same time. Anyway, on with the next decade and on with the podcast. As always, love to hear your thoughts, questions, comments. Send them into letters at cafe.com. You'll be forgiven if your heart isn't exactly breaking over the fate of a handful of elite law firms recently targeted by Donald Trump.
So a few mega rich corporations who help make mega, mega rich corporations even richer stand to get a little less rich. We got bigger problems right now. But don't skim past this one. You've heard the Shakespeare quote. The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. That line is sometimes misinterpreted as an expression of frustration directed at lawyers who are always mucking things up and impeding free enterprise and a good time. But Shakespeare's point in context.
is that lawyers stand in the way of lawlessness. So anyone hoping to subvert the established order might want to start by chucking all us pesky JDs in the river. Trump has now targeted a string of elite law firms for reasons that are equal parts Machiavelli. Mean Girls, and Dick. And don't panic. Dick is the name of the character who speaks the aforementioned line in Shakespeare's Henry VI, part two.
The president has issued a series of formal proclamations that warn vaguely but darkly of the quote significant risks posed by these quote rogue law firms who engage in quote harmful activity and quote egregious. I guess those are scare quotes, but those are actual quotes from the proclamations. The Orwellian preludes quickly give way to burn book flaming of the condemned law firms. Trump offers zero pretext. This is entirely about retribution.
personal and political. Witness the sins of the commander in chief's disfavored firms. Covington and Burling, where I worked 20 plus years ago, made the list primarily because horror of horrors, they're providing free legal services. to Jack Smith. The president attacked Jenner and Block, largely because they formerly employed Andrew Weissman, who once prosecuted the bumbling Trump-adjacent ostrich skin aficionado, Paul Manafort, and Wilmer Hale.
which has hired lawyers who once worked on Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation. Perkins Coie got their comeuppance because they represented Hillary Clinton and have worked with George Soros. Now, don't you feel safe and protected from all the big, scary, significant risks? that were afoot? Trump instinctively understands how to hit his chosen enemies where it hurts most. The bottom line.
All law firms aspire to high-minded principles and sometimes achieve them, but they are at core relentless profit-seeking vessels. Trump, no stranger to cold-blooded capitalism, has expertly crafted his proclamations to bring the named firms. to their knees. First, the proclamation strip all firm lawyers of security clearances and bar them from access to government buildings, making it effectively impossible to represent clients in any federal, criminal, or regulatory matter. And crucially,
the proclamations threaten that any company doing business with the targeted law firms will lose its government contracts. Now consider these conditions from the perspective of a potential blue chip client. Let's say a private aeronautics company that relies on federal government. contracts for the bulk of its revenue. There are a lot of companies like that. If that company needed representation on any criminal or regulatory case, it would immediately drop the targeted law firms.
given that the lawyers can't even step foot inside DOJ or the SEC or the Department of Defense buildings. And why would our hypothetical aeronautics company hire a blacklisted firm at the risk of losing its federal government contracts? The safe move for any rational, self-interested client?
is to tiptoe right down the street to any of the dozens of elite law firms that have not incurred the president's wrath, or at least not yet. Trump's retributive effort has left the targeted law firms with two stark options. Surrender. Two of the firms selected by Trump, Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps, did the math and buckled the perhaps formerly mega prestigious New York based legal practices, cut deals with the president.
quote, essentially a settlement, in his words, quote, essentially a shakedown in mind. These arrangements are voluntary for the law firms. Only in the same sense that the corner butcher voluntarily peels off 500s every Friday for the local capo's collector. Paul Weiss, the first firm, agreed to do $40 million worth of pro bono legal work, free legal work, for various causes.
Skadnarps cost up $100 million. Well, that's not so bad, right? We generally celebrate lawyers for donating their time to pro bono causes, after all. But the catch here is that the firms agreed to do that work for causes supported by the president. You want to represent a pro-choice abortion advocacy group, a climate change nonprofit, a death row inmate challenging his conviction?
Good luck getting approval from those government overseers. The problem here is not with the causes themselves. It's that these private law firms will allow the president and his administration to dictate what causes and clients they can and cannot represent. These firms are victims in a sense, but they're also not helpless patsies. Paul Weiss in 2024 made over $2.6 billion in total revenues and brace yourself, $7.5 million in profits per equity.
partner. Skadden Arps generated $3.2 billion in revenues and $5.4 million in profits per equity partner. These are collectives of extraordinarily savvy lawyers who make their living navigating the corridors of power. And when faced with the president's wrath and the loss of big money clients, they chose to negotiate revenue-saving deals at the expense of their independence and professional dignity.
The other option for the targeted firms is to do the thing they do for a living, the same thing they thought they'd be doing when they went to law school years ago. Go to court and take a stand. ... ... ... ... One of the Bush-appointed judges called Trump's scheme, quote, disturbing and, quote, troubling.
Trump has picked countless legal fights during his first two months back in office, many aimed at expansion of his own power. He might ultimately prevail on some of those, especially in the conservative-leaning pro-executive Supreme Court, but he's going to get his clock cleaned.
For starters, it's flagrantly unconstitutional. This is about more than a few posh law firms enduring a temporary reduction in revenue. It's about free speech and association. It's about due process and access to government. It's about the freedom of individuals and, yes, corporations to engage counsel of their choosing. The courts, I predict, will have none of this. Keep in mind that every judge is a lawyer. Many came through the same type of big law mega firms.
now in the crosshairs, and they'll understand the threat posed by Trump's actions. This is not about left against right or liberals against conservatives. This is about the integrity and functioning of the legal profession writ large. Ultimately, from Trump's perspective, The targeting of law firms is about eliminating an especially potent source of resistance, lowercase r, to implementation of his agenda.
It's clear now that Congress will do nothing to check the president's actions, nor will there be any meaningful adverse investigation by our fully neutered DOJ. led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has already shown herself to be completely in the bag for Trump or from anywhere else in the executive branch. The only real pushback will come from the courts.
and the lawyers. And as Trump recognizes, if he can incapacitate the lawyers, then he can wipe out one of the few remaining sources of meaningful opposition to his romp through American public and private life. Now those law firms and the president's crosshairs must decide. Do they cave in to save their own profits per partner or do they stand up and fight? Thanks for listening, everyone. Stay safe and stay informed.