If you’re looking for a fine example of craven corporatism, look no further than law firm Kirkland & Ellis.
After then K&E attorneys Paul Clement and Erin Murphy won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen Thursday, their law firm gave them a Hobson’s Choice: Fire their firearms clientele or leave the firm.
Clement, a former U.S. Solicitor General, and Erin Murphy, chose to leave.
Smart choice.
As the two attorneys wrote in the Wall Street Journal,
This isn’t the first time we have left a firm to stick by a client. What makes this circumstance different is that the firm approved our representation of these clients years ago, and dropping them would cost the clients years of institutional memory. More remarkable still, in one of the cases we were asked to drop, we prevailed in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Those who object to the representation are thus taking issue with the Constitution as interpreted by a majority of the high court.
The list of large corporations that have caved to left-wing activists is long and scary. Law firms should not get in that line. Clement and Murphy wrote:
Some may find this notion strange or quaint. Many businesses drop clients or change suppliers as convenience dictates. To others, the firm’s decision will seem like one more instance of acceding to the demands of the woke. But law firms aren’t supposed to operate like ordinary businesses. Lawyers owe a duty of loyalty to their clients.
And really, if Kirkland & Ellis clients are adamantly opposed to the Second Amendment, they are free to work to change the U.S. Constitution.
Once a law firm has pulled this cancel-culture trick once, it’ll be harder for the white shoes to say no to the next cause of the day, which invariably will be instigated by the left to muzzle the right. If I were a big shot at an oil company or car manufacturer, I’d look for a law firm that isn’t so afraid of its shadow.
Debra J. Saunders, a senior fellow with the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership covered the White House for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Reach her at dsaunders@discovery.org.