Trump Orders: Law Firms on the Line

When a string of 2025 executive orders barred select law firms from federal buildings, revoked security clearances, and threatened to cancel their clients’ government contracts, Big Law took notice. Yale Law professor John Morley—author of Why Law Firms Collapse—joins Talks On Law host Joel Cohen to explain:

• how the orders leverage client pressure to destabilize even thriving partnerships;
• the “bank-run” dynamic of partner exits and collapsing profits-per-partner;
• bankruptcy claw-back rules and unfinished-business liability that haunt partners who stay;
• ethics constraints under Model Rules 5.4 and 5.6 that limit outside capital, speed lawyer mobility, and allow for this unique risk;
• why transactional giants settled while litigation shops fought—and the reputational trade-offs for both.

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