Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft: Storied Law Firm Pays Brutal Price for Surrendering to Trump

[Eugene]

Source: The Daily Beast

Storied Law Firm Pays Brutal Price for Surrendering to Trump

Janna Brancolini, Tom Sanders
Fri, December 19, 2025 at 1:03 PM EST 2 min read

A storied Wall Street law firm that hemorrhaged talent after bending the knee to President Donald Trump has announced plans to merge with a much larger firm in a bid to save its practice.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft had been actively looking for a merger partner after many of its top attorneys left over the firm’s decision to pledge $100 million in pro bono work to support the president’s priorities, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Last spring, the president signed a series of executive orders stripping attorneys from certain firms of their security clearances, limiting their access to government buildings, and terminating government contracts with the firms.

While some firms like Cadwalader made deals with the administration to avoid a similar punishment, others fought the orders and won big in court, adding to the humiliation of the capitulating firms.

-snip-

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/storied-law-firm-pays-brutal-180330522.html

[CTyankee]

1. Well, well...so Wall St.'s support is waning...that is encouraging! Keep on goin'! DOWN, down, down..

[Henry203]

10. It really isn't as far as law firms.

I have been in the vertical for 20 years. My friend was the CIO at Cadwalader. He left about 3 months ago to take another CIO job. I need to get the lowdown. My other friend was CIO of Hogan. He moved out west to take a different CIO job.

[olivia11]

2. real story

Hard to be surprised there is a real cost when institutions trade principles for short-term protection. Talent voting with its feet usually tells the real story.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. Welcome to DU

[Skittles]

21. yes indeed

I remember when I first read about them thinking, who the hell would hire a law firm that so quickly bent at the knee for FASCISM, WTF - no principles, zero honor.

[UpInArms]

3. Maybe the firm should have asked if their attorneys would give their talents away

pledge $100 million in pro bono work to support the president’s priorities

Stupid MAGAts do stupid things

ETTD

[NJCher]

4. But these guys weren't magats

A friend had worked there. He took their actions very seriously. They had done a lot of blue pro bono work.

[UpInArms]

6. The lead partners, if not MAGAts,

were cowards

The capitulation to TFG was disgusting…

Did they not know the talents could fight and win against evil?

[bluedigger]

5. Am I supposed to feel sorry for a corporate law firm?

I want stories of their principles being forced to sell their second, third, and fourth vacation homes and lining up for food banks.

[Aviation Pro]

7. Make a deal with a rapist

Get raped.

[Henry203]

8. Interesting development

I work in the vertical. I have been to Hogan’s office in DC multiple times. My friend was the CIO. My other friend was the CIO of Cadwalader and he left 3 months ago to take another CIO job. I need to call him to get the lowdown.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

15. Educate us non-legal eagles

What does "working in the vertical" and "CIO" mean?

[Henry203]

16. The vertical

Is the large law firm market. They represent corporations. Average people are represented by plaintiff firms. For instance, I worked on the large Blue Cross class action which settled for 2.67 billion for the plaintiffs. CIO is the chief information officer.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

18. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

My son is a paralegal who works for a very small local law firm, so I learn about everyday plaintiff case terms and procedures from him. Handy for my elderly self-protection, LOL.

It's healthy and wise for all our citizens to learn more about our system of justice.

[pfitz59]

9. If I was their client I'd drop them posthaste

How can they defend me when they can't or won't defend themselves?

[Skittles]

22. or their country

[ToxMarz]

11. Gonna be tough to collect on that $100 million in pro bono work from a defunct law firm.

And presumably any merger partner would inherit that liability, or Trump would go after them and force them to. Prospects look bleak.

[NJCher]

12. you can play a number of stall games

while trump is circling the drain. I wouldn't worry about it.

[littlemissmartypants]

13. ...

[FakeNoose]

14. The thing about law firms is ... all your assets walk out the door at 5 o'clock

That's another way of saying, your employees ( i.e. law partners) are the only thing a law firm has to offer. There's not much investment in equipment or inventory like there is for a manufacturing firm or a retail business. If your law partners decide they don't want to continue under the current management, what keeps you in business? That's what Cadwalader is finding out right now.

[Henry203]

17. No different in any professional service business

Accounting is the same as the legal vertical.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

20. Firms that gave into trump are paying a justified price for their cowardliness