Trump is not 'dictating' legal work in Paul Weiss deal, chairman says

(Reuters) -Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp said in a letter to its lawyers and staff on Sunday that the Trump administration would not be "dictating" what free legal work the powerful Wall Street law firm would provide under a deal it struck with the White House last week.

The firm faced intense criticism from some lawyers in part for pledging the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services to support "mutually agreed" administration projects such as combating antisemitism and supporting veterans.

Republican U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday agreed to withdraw an executive order that restricted Paul Weiss lawyers' access to government buildings and officials and threatened government contracts held by the firm's clients.

As part of the deal, Karp agreed that his firm would renounce partisanship in hiring and choosing clients, and would audit its employment practices to ensure they are based only on merit.

"The executive order could easily have destroyed our firm," Karp said in Sunday's letter, which was viewed by Reuters. "The Administration is not dictating what matters we take on, approving our matters, or anything like that," he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has attacked major law firms like Paul Weiss over their work for his political and legal adversaries and their internal diversity policies. On Friday, he issued a memorandum broadly targeting lawyers and law firms that handle immigration cases or sue the government.

Karp, who has deep ties with the financial industry and the Democratic Party, said the firm had prepared a lawsuit and was poised to challenge Trump's order, following the path taken by Perkins Coie after that firm was hit with a similar order.

"But it became clear that, even if we were successful in initially enjoining the executive order in litigation, it would not solve the fundamental problem, which was that clients perceived our firm as being persona non grata with the Administration," the letter said.

Paul Weiss performs more than $130 million in pro bono work annually, Karp said, promising its existing work would continue.

(Reporting by Sara Merken and Mike Scarcella; Writing by David Bario; Editing by Diane Craft)