Nearly a billion dollars in pro bono work, extracted under threat of an order four other firms proved unconstitutional

Editor's note: four federal courts ruled that the executive orders these firms were threatened with violated the Constitution.

At least nine major firms, Paul Weiss (~$40M, LFU-02), Skadden, Milbank, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher ($100M each), and five more, struck deals pledging pro bono legal services for causes the administration favors, in exchange for the White House not issuing, or agreeing to lift, an executive order against them. House Judiciary Committee Democrats sent formal letters to these firms in April 2025 warning the arrangements could raise professional-conduct concerns.

The aggregate value of these pledges runs close to $1 billion in free legal labor, extracted from firms facing the threat of an order that four similarly-targeted firms (LFU-01, LFU-03, LFU-04, LFU-06) subsequently proved unconstitutional in court; the Justice Department moved to drop its appeals in March 2026, then reversed course and resumed defending the orders at the D.C. Circuit.

Some corporate clients have since shifted business toward the firms that litigated rather than settled: Wikipedia's compilation cites Oracle, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, and McDonald's among companies reported to have moved work toward Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, or Susman Godfrey following the litigation outcomes, the private market's own after-the-fact judgment on which firms it trusted more.