The Daily Fuckup

Paul Weiss told a New Jersey federal court on March 19, 2025, that a client dropped the firm after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at the firm five days earlier. In the filing, the firm said Steven Schwartz terminated Paul Weiss as defense counsel because of the March 14 order. The filing does not say more about the client’s reasons beyond that link to the order.

The White House order threatened Paul Weiss with security-clearance reviews, restrictions on access to federal buildings, and possible review of federal contracts involving the firm. The administration later replaced that order with a new one on March 21, 2025, after Paul Weiss said it would adopt a set of policy changes, including a political-neutrality policy for client selection and hiring, a commitment to $40 million in pro bono legal services during Trump’s term, and changes to its diversity policies.

The court filing matters because it is a dated, public record showing a concrete client consequence after the order took effect. It does not establish how many other clients, if any, reacted the same way. But it does show that the White House action quickly became more than a symbolic fight between the president and a law firm: at least one client treated the order as a reason to walk away.