So far, many of the public resignations have come from associates, who often have more flexibility to move because they are earlier in their careers. At Paul Weiss, there was also the resignation of Steven Banks, the leader of the pro bono practice, who had served as special counsel for the past three years.
But at least in one case, the fallout is climbing the org chart. J.B. Howard, a counsel in the global litigation group at Cadwalader, has resigned over a deal the firm made with Trump, DealBook is first to report. (A counsel is a senior-level position but is not at the partner level.)
Lauren Hirsch obtained a copy of Howard’s resignation letter, which is excerpted below:
When I was admitted to the bar, I swore an oath not only to support the Constitution and the laws of the United States and Maryland, but also, critically, to “uphold the honor and dignity of the legal profession.” In my view, society licenses us with the privilege of practicing law, and of earning a livelihood from the practice of law, in exchange for a solemn and nonnegotiable commitment to preserve and fight for our system of laws, without which lawyers have no purpose or reason to exist.
The legal profession, the courts, and the rule of law are now under direct attack from a lawless administration determined to gut them — can any serious person argue otherwise? The individual and institutional price we lawyers will have to pay, and the sacrifices we will have to make, to hold the line against this aggression may be enormous, but I view them as commitments we made when we became lawyers. I believe we either pay the price and fight or we forfeit our license and moral right to practice law.
True, some have fiduciary duties to their law firms in the face of an arguably existential threat. But I believe we have a prior, and more fundamental, fiduciary duty to society to defend the rule of law, which itself faces an existential threat. There are no lawyers or law firms, and no duties owed to them, if an autocratic regime succeeds in stripping the legal profession of its independence. In my view, the deals now being cut are only emboldening that regime and further empowering it as, literally day by day, it gains more ground. I do not believe I can carry on at the firm knowing that I am now, in a sense, a party to one of these deals.
Howard declined to comment. A spokesperson for Cadwalader did not respond to a request for comment.
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