Kilmar Abrego Garcia (alongside hundreds of other people) was kidnapped by the Trump Administration and deported illegally to a foreign prison camp without even a flimsy show of due process. This is so blatantly illegal that the heavily conservative Supreme Court has ruled 9-0 that the administration must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States: a ruling that the administration is not simply ignoring, but actively denying, while they attempt to smear Abrego Garcia in the court of public opinion. I don’t know the man, he may be a horrible human being who deserves to rot in a gulag, but in my country that decision is not made by a president, a cabinet member, or any individual. It must be proven in a court of law, and the defendant must be provided with a competent legal defense.
The 10 Law Firms who have capitulated to the administration without even putting up a fight are 100% complicit with this administration’s illegal activity. Their cowardice and failure to stand for the rule of law, makes them an accessory to its destruction in the United States. It’s not yet too late for any of these firms to “right the ship” and “return to the light”, but failure to act decisively now, to demand due process for all people in this country, regardless of demographics, is beyond the pale. These firms and any who follow their lead from today forward, have passed a point of no return.
If you are a partner at one of these firms, and you choose to continue your affiliation, then you are a baseless coward who has chosen lucre over law and are therefore unfit to practice.
If you are a non-partner lawyer practicing at one of these firms, I’m sorry. You have worked very hard to gain a position at one of the formerly best firms in the country, but that firm’s partnership has failed you and your profession. Further association with the firm will reflect poorly on your future career. Leave now.
If you are a non-billing employee at one of these firms, you are not responsible for your firm’s cowardice. If you have opportunities to work other places, then take them. If you don’t, or if you are comfortable with a little subterfuge in the name of liberty, then continue to do the great work you have done in the past, just do it a little more slowly. Use the firm’s bureaucracy, risk aversion, and internal politics to raise its costs and further tarnish its reputation (which may not be possible.)
If you are a client of one of these firms and continue to purchase their legal services, history will judge you harshly. There are plenty of other firms that can handle your matters, choose one that believes in the rule of law and is not willing to look the other way for a few dollars more. If you continue to hire these firms, we can safely assume that their being unencumbered by ethics or professional obligations likely holds substantial appeal for your business.
If you are a vendor who is not currently selling to one of these firms, good. Don’t market to them. Don’t take meetings with them. Don’t try to sell to them. You have nothing to lose by not selling to a particular firm, this should be easy.
If you are a vendor who sells to one of these firms already, do not renew their contracts when they come up for renewal. Your company will probably not survive living in a country without the rule of law anyway. Do not hasten that reality by supporting firms that are actively trying to bring it about.
If you are a consultant, and this one is near and dear to me personally, you choose your clients as surely as they choose you. If you are working with these firms, you are likely working with individuals you love. Those people are probably not partners and had no influence on the firm’s decision to capitulate to an authoritarian regime. Still, upon completing your current projects — or at the very first opportunity to withdraw according to your MSA — stop working with these firms. They have failed us as an industry, as a profession, and as a country.
This is not personal. It’s not business. It’s liberty.
And it doesn’t come cheap.
If you think the price is too high, then be sure to explain that to Kilmar Abrego Garcia when you meet him in El Salvador.