Trump's deals with law firms are like deals 'made with a gun to the head,' lawyers say

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

May 31, 2025 5:00 AM ET


Veteran lawyers have reached a curious conclusion about President Trump's deals with big law firms this year: they do not appear to be legally valid. Trump since coming to office has punished certain firms for their past clients or causes, stripping them of security clearances and government contracts, while trumpeting deals with others, including titans like Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins.

The White House said the nine firms it's settled with agreed to provide about $1 billion in pro bono services in order to curtail investigations into their hiring practices and maintain access to federal buildings. But the details of those agreements remain murky, even after Democratic lawmakers demanded answers. "The problem with the law firm deals is … they're not deals at all," said Harold Hongju Koh, a professor and former dean at Yale Law School. "You know, a contract that you make with a gun to your head is not a contract."

Most every American law student takes a course about contracts. And there, Koh said, they learn there needs to be a meeting of the minds. In many cases, what Trump has said in news conferences and social media posts about those deals does not match what the law firms communicated to their partners. The pro bono commitments started with agreements to help military veterans. But Trump has moved the bar since to include trade deals, immigration enforcement cases and perhaps even defending police officers under investigation for misconduct.

Even in the context of a veteran, Koh said, "what if the veteran is gay or wants to have transgender surgery? Would they approve of that? So that lack of clarity and specificity is all the more reason why there's no deal and no meeting of the minds."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/31/nx-s1-5406173/trump-deals-law-firms

[dchill]

1. As in "Duh."

[Cheezoholic]

2. Just because they agreed to a billion in "pro bono" services doesn't mean they have to go to the mat in any cases ;) n/t

[MLWR]

3. " a contract that you make with a gun to your head is not a contract."

I am not a lawyer, but even I know that an agreement/contract made/signed under duress is not enforceable.

[Ocelot II]

4. The corner bakery makes a "deal" with the mob that if it gives them 10% of its sales

they won't burn the store down isn't a contract, either; it's extortion, which is exactly what's going on with Harvard and the other universities.

[cstanleytech]

5. It's called blackmail which if done by a Democrat would lead to impeachment and removal from office.

Followed by criminal charges and potentially a prison term.

[AZLD4Candidate]

6. in other news, water is still wet, grass is still green, and the sun still rises in the east every morning.

[ImNotGod]

7. Donnie Cheap Eggs AKA Donnie Two Dolls is just making them an offer they can't refuse. nt

[dickthegrouch]

8. All his "deals" are extortionate /nt

[SorellaLaBefana]

9. "This is my last territorial demand in Europe"

said the Leader of Germany in September 1938 referencing his demand that part of Czechoslovakia simply be given to Germany. The countries of France, Italy and the United Kingdom immediately agreed. Czechoslovakia had no say.

Upon return from signing the betrayal of the Munich Agreement—which gave Germany this important area of Czechoslovakia (in spite of France having a defense treaty with Czechoslovakia)—UK Tory Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told the crowd outside of Number Ten:

My good friends, this is the second time [PM Ben Disraeli had done this first in 1878 redrawing the Balkans to give Austria a bigger share—which also worked out well?] there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Now I recommend you go home, and sleep quietly in your beds."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain

In short: Nothing to see here, move along and go sleep quietly in your beds...

Psychopaths cannot be appeased. One would think that lesson might have been learnt ere now. One would be wrong.