The Assault on Law Firms and the Clients They Represent Threaten the Rule of Law

The Rule of Law reflects our dedication to principles embodied in our Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.  The Rule of Law also recognizes that these principles need to be protected, nurtured, and enforced. The First Amendment is not self-executing; the right to trial by jury and the various liberties protected by the guarantee of due process require constant attention. The role of lawyers in protecting these indispensable components of liberty is inestimable. And it is for that reason that the Rule of Law embodies not just the principles that are enshrined in the Constitution, but also the enforcement mechanism that exists in the judicial system: the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment, and independent, fair, and impartial judges.  Attorneys and judges who are tasked with protecting the constitutional rights of all people in this country: citizens and immigrants alike. 

Rarely has the government attempted to silence lawyers or threaten lawyers for vigorously advocating on behalf of clients. Even more rare – virtually unheard of – law firms have been threatened based on the clients they represent (or represented in the past) or subjected to extortion of money or free legal services from the law firms (to be provided to the government) in retribution for the clients that a law firm has represented. 

The practice of law has always been marked by the willingness of lawyers to take on unpopular causes. Famously, John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers who advocated for independence from England and against its ruthless soldiers who were occupying Boston, was also a lawyer who represented British soldiers in court when they were charged with a murder.  

In Atlanta, a number of local law firms represent the defendants in the ongoing Fulton County criminal case against President Trump, as well as the fifteen other defendants charged with violating RICO in connection with the 2020 Election imbroglio. Some of those same firms also represented one or more of the January 6 rioters in Washington, D.C. At the same time there are over fifty law firms, including some of the same law firms that are involved in the Trump case, who are representing the alleged “anarchists” who are charged with participating in the protests – some of which were violent – as part of the Stop CopCity movement in Atlanta. 

Law firms that focus on criminal defense represent bikers and gang members charged with violent crimes. Immigration lawyers represent people who are in the country illegally and subject to removal or deportation. Lawyers have represented doctors who perform abortions and women who were challenging the restrictive anti-abortion laws.  Law firms represent clients who are rich and clients who are poor, Black and white, male and female, often for free. Some have committed heinous crimes (murder for hire; serial killers) for which the state sought the death penalty. Defendants who have engaged in school shootings have lawyers. 

And, as noted above, President Trump has of course never been denied a lawyer in Atlanta, nor have his lawyers been punished for representing him, and likewise he was represented in New York and in south Florida and in Washington DC  when he was charged and indicted in those cases. 

All these clients have one character trait in common: they are all entitled to have representation by a lawyer. They deserve a lawyer because they are involved in litigation of one form or another; not because they are straight, trans, or gay; Republican or Democrat; guilty or innocent. And certainly not because they think Trump is the greatest President of all time, or the worst. They deserve a lawyer because they live in this country and this country’s constitution guarantees for the sake of the rule of law that everybody has the right to a lawyer when they are embroiled in a controversy, whether they initiated the controversy or are a target of another person’s (or the government’s) ire. Indeed, lawyers are especially essential when it is the government that is opposing them.  

Lawyers are proud to represent the underdogs. They will do anything in their power ethically within the law to defend the legal institutions in this country and particularly the rights of all lawyers to represent clients no matter the client’s political affiliation, race, religion, or sexual orientation; and the rights of clients to have competent representation no matter their country of origin.  As advocates, lawyers have a duty to use legal procedure for the fullest benefit of the client’s cause. 

The Rule of Law, in short, is a hollow assemblage of rights and privileges if there is nobody enforcing those guarantees. It is for that reason that the assault on law firms based on who they represent, and the insistence that the law firms pay the government astounding fines and are compelled to provide free legal service to the government, subjected to a ban from government buildings and even from the courts  profoundly threatens the Rule of Law and risks discouraging lawyers from engaging in this noble profession.