Profiles in Legal Courage: “Standing Up for the Rule of Law”

On March 6, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order which outlined several punitive measures against the Perkins Coie law firm and its employees for its past legal work. Perkins Coie challenged the order and over 500 law firms joined nonprofit legal organizations and law professors in filing friend of the court briefs in support of Perkins Coie. On May 2, 2025, a federal judge permanently struck down the Executive order, ruling it unconstitutional. Why did so many lawyers oppose the Executive Order? How did they find common ground? What obligations, if any, do lawyers have to continue to oppose such orders?

Join us for a discussion with key lawyers involved with representing and supporting Perkins Coie in the litigation and a leading expert on the legal profession. Confirmed speakers include Michael Attanasio, Cooley, LLP; Adam Lauridsen, Keker, Van Nest & Peters; Denyse Clancy, Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood; and Ann Southworth, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Empirical Research on the Legal Profession at UC Irvine School of Law.

The Conversations on Civil Justice series is supported by a gift from the AAJ’s Robert L. Habush Endowment.