Trump Targets Jenner & Block Via Clients, Widening Big Law Fight

President Donald Trump’s new executive order against Jenner & Block threatens the firm’s relationship with a top client, aerospace and defense company General Dynamics.

Trump on Tuesday made Jenner the fourth major law firm hit for ties to lawyers he considers enemies. The president ordered agencies to restrict firm employees from accessing US buildings, strip lawyers’ security clearances, and investigate diversity hiring practices. He also directed agencies to terminate government contracts with Jenner clients.

General Dynamics has received $102.8 billion in unclassified federal contracts since start of fiscal year 2021, according to a Bloomberg Government database. The company, whose ties to Jenner span more than half a century, this year won a contract worth more than $43 million from the Health and Human Services Department.

General Dynamics did not immediately respond to a request for comment. IBM and General Motors are among other major government contracts that Chicago-founded Jenner has previously advised.

Perkins Coie detailed the harm caused by a similar March 6 order against it in a court filing earlier this month. The firm said it lost significant business from longtime clients, such as a “major government contractor that has been a firm client for over 35 years,” in the six days after Trump issued the order.

The new order against Jenner singles out former firm partner Andrew Weissmann. The ex-Justice Department official was a top member of Robert Mueller’s special counsel team who had a lead role in securing the convictions of Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.

“Andrew Weissman is the main culprit?” Trump asked White House staff secretary Will Scharf just before he signed the order. “He’s a bad guy.”

In a March 14 speech at the Justice Department, Trump called Weissmann “scum.”

Jenner and Block said in a statement Tuesday: “We remain focused on serving and safeguarding our clients’ interests with the dedication, integrity, and expertise that has defined our firm for more than one hundred years and will pursue all appropriate remedies.”

Weissmann did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

The order follows directives over the past month against Perkins Coie, Covington & Burling, and Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Perkins Coie sued the Trump administration, obtaining a court order to temporarily block the order against it. Trump rescinded the order against Paul Weiss after reaching an agreement with the firm.

Weissmann on Monday criticized the Paul Weiss deal with Trump, in which the firm agreed to spend $40 million in pro bono legal services to support administration goals.

“The right response is not appeasement or silence,” Weissmann wrote in a social media post. “Capitulation serves as a clarion call to further such improper action by this administration.”

Clients Threatened

Jenner & Block is one of the 100 highest-grossing law firms in the country with $582 million in revenue in 2023, according to the American Lawyer.

It was founded in Chicago in 1914 as Newman Poppenhusen & Stern. The firm later was renamed in part after Albert Jenner Jr., a former assistant counsel to the Warren Commission who in the 1950s established a relationship with General Dynamics that continues today.

Jenner also has deep ties to Democratic politics. Firm partner Josh Hsu took a leave of absence to advise the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign. The firm is currently representing LGBTQ organization PFLAG in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s order rescinding funding from institutions providing gender affirming care.

Weissmann was a Jenner & Block partner from 2006 until 2015, when he jumped to the government. He eventually became chief of the Justice Department fraud task force that prosecuted executives at Enron Corp. He joined Mueller’s team in 2017.

Weissmann rejoined the firm in 2020 as co-chair of its investigations, compliance, and defense team, after writing a book, “Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation.” He left in 2021 to become top lawyer at MacAndrews & Forbes Inc., parent company of Revlon Inc., where he stayed for less than a year.

Trump’s order states that Jenner & Block “is yet another law firm that has abandoned the profession’s highest ideals, condoned partisan ‘lawfare,’ and abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States.”