Paul Weiss Fired by Cognizant Executive Over Trump Order (2)

An executive facing federal bribery charges fired his lawyers at Paul Weiss days after President Donald Trump targeted the firm in an executive order.

Steven Schwartz cut ties with his lawyers ahead of trial in the Justice Department’s criminal case against him, Paul Weiss told a federal court in New Jersey Wednesday. He cited Trump’s March 14 order against the firm, threatening to scrap government contracts for Paul Weiss clients and suspending lawyers’ security clearances.

“Mr. Schwartz is concerned that the firm’s continued representation of him may negatively affect his ability to obtain a favorable review of his case, or, due to the Executive Order, otherwise create potential conflicts of interest as between Mr. Schwartz and Paul, Weiss, that Mr. Schwartz is not prepared to waive,” the lawyers said in a court filing. “Regardless of whether or not the government is permitted to engage with Paul, Weiss in the ongoing review, Mr. Schwartz is concerned that Paul, Weiss’s ongoing involvement in the matter could in and of itself prejudice the review of his case.”

Trump has launched attacks on several of the nation’s biggest law firms in recent weeks. He went after Paul Weiss because of its ties to Mark Pomerantz, a former partner who led a Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into Trump, and the firm’s pro bono work on cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol.

The executive order also authorized agencies to limit Paul Weiss employees’ access to federal buildings. It came just two days after a federal judge blocked a similar order against Seattle-founded law firm Perkins Coie.

Schwartz is one of two former senior officials at Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, a publicly traded IT multinational, being prosecuted by the Justice Department for allegedly approving a $2 million payoff to officials in India in connection with the construction of an office park. He declined to comment.

Veteran trial lawyers Ted Wells, co-chair of Paul Weiss’s litigation department, and Roberto Finzi, co-chair of the firm’s white collar and regulatory defense group, led Schwartz’s defense team. Jones Day lawyers are defending Gordon Coburn, Cognizant’s former president and a co-defendant in the case.

Paul Weiss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawyers for Schwartz and Coburn sought to have the Justice Department drop the case in February, after Trump ordered a pause on foreign bribery enforcement and Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a revised approach to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Justice Department initially proceeded with the case, but trial was pushed back after New Jersey’s new acting chief federal prosecutor asked for more time to do a “supplemental analysis” of the case.

The case is USA v. Coburn, D.N.J., 2:19-cr-00120, 3/19/25