Brown, Goldstein & Levy Managing Partner Jessie Weber was featured on a recent episode of Amicus, a legal podcast with Dahlia Lithwick of Slate, titled “A Lawyer’s Guide to Not Caving to the President,” in which they discussed the impact of law firms’ response to the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting the legal industry and how lawyers can fight back.
“I think it’s really important that there be a record that we fought, that we fought for our rights, that we fought for the Constitution, that we fought for people who are really being targeted by this administration,” Jessie said on the podcast. “And hopefully we do win. But if we lose, I don’t want history to reflect that we went down without fighting.”
Jessie discussed the impact of big law firms agreeing to devote millions of dollars of pro bono work to support the administration’s agenda, and what it means when fewer law firms are willing to take on civil rights cases, due to fear of retaliation from the government.
“It means that we’re going to have fewer lawyers enforcing the Constitution and enforcing people’s civil rights,” Jessie said. “It’s already a diminishing pool of lawyers available to do that work, and it’s about to get smaller. And, so, that’s really dangerous.”
Some law firms targeted by the Trump administration have pushed back against the unlawful executive orders. For example, BGL joined over 500 law firms in filing an amicus brief in support of Perkins Coie, a law firm under attack by a recent Trump executive order, as well as subsequent amicus briefs in support of Jenner & Block and WilmerHale. Others, like Paul Weiss, conceded and made a deal with the administration for $40 million worth of pro bono work for Trump’s priorities in exchange for the order to be cancelled.
“I feel really lucky to be at a firm where we’ve always kind of put our necks out there,” Jessie said on air with Dahlia. “We’ve always represented clients or causes that might be unpopular in the country, gone up against the bullies of the world. And so it’s very much in our firm ethos to be speaking out. And I’m grateful to be at a firm . . . that’s very supportive.”
Jessie also urged those in the legal profession to push back and speak out on the unconstitutional orders being issued by the Trump administration to protect the Constitution and our democracy.
Jessie discussed how law firms’ silence in this moment was not neutrality, but complicity.. “[I]t’s not enough for firms just to say nothing, even if they’re not capitulating. I really think the whole profession needs to be speaking in a unified voice, making sure the public and non-lawyers understand how dangerous this is in terms of our rule of law, our Constitution and ultimately our democracy.”
Listen to this episode of Slate’s Amicus podcast here.
ABOUT JESSIE WEBER
In addition to leading BGL as managing partner, Jessie Weber enjoys helping clients navigate a diverse range of difficult legal issues, with a focus on civil rights, including disability and LGBTQ rights, employment law, including wage and hour cases, and appellate litigation. Jessie’s successes include obtaining a $1.25 million settlement for a class of Baltimore City school bus drivers and attendants wrongly denied their full pay, securing an injunction requiring the Maryland Board of Elections to make absentee voting accessible to voters with print disabilities, and winning an arbitration award of more than $250,000 on behalf of an African-American former Hooters server who was fired from her job because of Hooters’ racially discriminatory image policy. Learn more about Jessie here.
ABOUT BROWN, GOLDSTEIN & LEVY
Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, D.C. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, and criminal defense. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to your fight for justice.