Published January 21, 2025
Elite law firms in Washington are giddy about Donald Trump’s re-election. Since November many of them have been presenting an optimistic case about how they can help businesses navigate the complex regulatory and policy environment to come. As the Republican Party has taken a more populist turn, they contend that Republican government is no longer “good for business.” Who better to manage looming policy controversies, the thinking goes, than the steady world of white-shoe law firms?
Top law firms have talented attorneys and no shortage of institutional knowledge about how the bureaucratic machinery works in the abstract. Yet they are hardly chock full of partners with high-level experience serving in the first Trump administration. This is in contrast with prominent liberal attorneys, who travel through a well-oiled revolving door between Democratic administrations and the private sector. Many firms shut that door to Republicans four years ago, depriving themselves of lawyers who worked in Mr. Trump’s first administration, alongside many who will return for the second.
Click here to continue reading.
Michael A. Fragoso is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in the Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture Program, where he writes and speaks on issues relating to the law, the federal judiciary, and Congress. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy: Per Curiam, and elsewhere.
