Paul Clement
Photo: Pool / Getty Images
A 6-3 victory in the Supreme Court defending constitutional law is usually a cause for congratulations, but not these days at Kirkland & Ellis, the giant white-shoe law firm. The company rewarded partner Paul Clement for his triumph on Thursday in the big arms rights case in New York (see nearby), telling him to leave his customers for guns or leave the company.
As Mr. Clement and his partner Erin Murphy explain nearby, they are leaving the company instead of dumping their customers. This is a dignified and ethical decision.
But it is worth noting how unusual it is for a law firm to fire its winning clients, whose rights have been upheld by at least six judges. It was as if the law firm representing Clarence Gideon had told him to get lost after the Supreme Court upheld his right to legal advice in his famous 1963 case, Gideon v. Wainwright.
“Kirkland & Ellis announced today its decision not to represent clients on issues related to the interpretation of the Second Amendment,” the company said in a press release without explanation. He added that Mr. Clement and Ms. Murphy “will leave the company to continue their full range of existing offices.”
This is not how Kirkland felt when he appointed Mr Clement and his famous appellate case law in 2016. A former US Attorney General, Mr Clement, now represented the National Arms Association and others involved in Second Amendment cases. time, and he made the detention of these customers a condition of joining Kirkland.
But these days, gun advocates are unpopular in Tony’s areas of Los Angeles and New York, where Kirkland represents business customers. When it comes to basic constitutional rights against corporate reserves that fund summer homes in the Hamptons, the Constitution is a second-class citizen.
This is the opposite of ethical legal representation. Unpopular clients need legal advice the most. Lawyers give up clients who lie or do not pay their bills. But Mr Clement’s arms customers are individuals and state arms groups, such as the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, which won its case in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Kirkland is throwing out customers who have done nothing wrong and have lawsuits that are currently pending. As Mr. Clement and Ms. Murphy said, “We can’t abandon current offices just because the client’s position is unpopular in some circles.”
As it happens, this is the second time that Mr. Clement has received a guarantee from a law firm for white shoes of one of his clients. In 2011, King & Spalding left the US House of Representatives after the House retained Mr. Clement to defend the constitutionality of the Marriage Protection Act. Mr. Clement left King & Spalding to start his own practice before joining Kirkland. He and Ms. Murphy now plan to open their own appeals firm.
Kirkland’s abdication of invertebrates illustrates how progressive ideology dominates the pinnacles of American law, business, and culture. If you want to know why opposition is building up in the provinces against this awakened correspondence, that’s it.
Wonderland: The US state system is mired in decades of “doing something” to solve problems, only to make things worse. Images: AFP / Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly
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Appeared in the print edition on June 24, 2022 as “You have won your case. You are fired. ‘
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