The main firm of international lawyers reaches the agreement with the White House, becoming the last to do so

Washington (AP) – Another large international law firm has entered into an agreement with President Donald Trump to devote at least $ 100 million to free legal services to causes such as support for veterans and the fight against anti -Semitism, the White House announced on Tuesday.

The agreement made of Willkie Farr & Gallagher the third law firm in the past two weeks to conclude an agreement with the White House to avoid sanctions from the United States government.

It was reached only two days after Willkie managers learned that the White House intended to issue a decree against the company, an action which could have carried “potentially serious consequences”, according to an internal email of the executive committee of the firm obtained by the Associated Press.

THE The resolution reflects the different responses taken by the legal community while Trump continues to target Some of the most elite law firms in the world And extract concessions from them, such as renouncing diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in hiring and promotion decisions. Many companies that have been the subject of Trump decrees are associated with lawyers who have previously investigatedEither when he was president or between his conditions in the White House.

Willkie shelters Doug Emhoff, The husband of 2024 Democratic candidate for the presidential election Kamala Harris, and Timothywho was the chief investigation council of the committee of the House of Representatives who investigated the January 6, 2021 Riot with the American Capitol. The company also represented Two former Georgia electoral employees In a successful defamation trial against the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani.

Three of the targeted companies have now concluded agreements with the White House – resolutions that criticisms within the legal community call for a capitulation – but others challenged them in court and managed to obtain key parties from blocked edicts.

Willkie’s internal email recognized this ambivalence.

“Although the agreement is finally concluded with the administration, focuses on the activities that are already in place in our office, similar agreements in peers have been criticized publicly, and there is an increased conversation in our industry as law firms with the consequences of potential orders and the impact of their customers, their employees and their companies,” said electronic mail.

“By making this difficult decision, we concluded, after having duly given the implications of each possible action plan, that the acceptance of the final proposal of the administration was the path that best meets the needs of our customers and protects the various stakeholders of the company, avoiding the potentially serious consequences,” he added.

The leaders of Willkie learned on Sunday that they would be targeted for a decree such as the one that ranks nearly half a dozen other large companies in the last month, the email said. The White House “then described an alternative proposed” made up of three principles on which an agreement could be based.

Emhoff made it internally known that he disagreed with the agreement and told the company management that they should fight, according to a person familiar with the situation that insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The company’s email has minimized the scope of reforms and suggested that the company had simply agreed to continue its longtime practices. This includes the continuation of “the law linked to our employment practices”, representing customers through various political and ideological spectra and continuous to “represent individuals and under-represented groups”.

The White House, on the other hand, described the changes in more radical terms, claiming that Willkie had confirmed “his commitment to hiring, promotion and detention based on merit. Consequently, the company will not engage in discrimination and illegal preferences of Dei ”.

Trump’s executive orders have threatened law enforcement authorizations in each of the targeted companies as well as the termination of federal contracts and employees’ access to federal buildings.

Last Friday, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has agreed to provide $ 100 million to Pro Bono legal services to avoid a decree, depending on the way Paul WeissA company that concluded an agreement a week after its target. Paul Weiss president said Trump action was likely to destroy the business.

In some cases, federal judges have blocked key parts of the prescriptions linked to federal contracts and access to federal buildings by application, as happened in the prosecution brought by Wilmerhale, Jenner & Block and Perkins Coie.

Wilmerhale is the company where Robert Mueller special lawyerWho investigated Trump during his first mandate, worked for years before retiring. Jenner & Block previously used Andrew Weissmann, who was a high -level lawyer from the Mueller team, and Perkins Coie represented Hillary Clinton during his 2016 presidential campaign.

The first company to be targeted was Covington & BurlingWho offered legal services to special lawyer Jack Smith, who investigated Trump during his second term.

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The writer Associated Press Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.