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June 24th, 2022, 11:57 AM #1
Lawyers that won 2nd amendment case fired from law firm
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Major Law Firm Fires the Lawyer Who Won the Biggest Second Amendment Case in a Decade
By streiff | Jun 24, 2022 10:30 AM ET
Thursday, the US Supreme Court delivered the most significant victory to law-abiding gun owners in almost a generation (Supreme Court Rules You Can’t ‘Bear’ Arms Unless You Can Carry Them for Self-Defense). In New York State Rifle and Pistol Association vs. Bruen, the Supreme Court demolished a pseudo-jurisprudence that has grown up around the Second Amendment that treats the right to possess and carry weapons as a curious artifact rather than a core American value.
Former US Solicitor General Paul Clement headed the litigation team for the Americans in this case. Clement has extensive and successful Second Amendment appellate experience; he represented the US government’s position in District of Columbia vs. Heller. His expertise was so sought after that the prominent law firm of Kirkland & Ellis essentially bought the law firm where he was a partner in 2016, partly because of his high profile in Second Amendment litigation.
Ordinarily, a Big Law firm that hired a lawyer whose practice was largely Second Amendment cases would expect the lawyer to continue representing those clients. And if that lawyer won a precedent-setting case before the Supreme Court, that would be a cause for celebration. Not today.
A 6-3 victory at the Supreme Court vindicating a constitutional right is usually cause for congratulations, but not these days at Kirkland & Ellis, the giant white-shoe law firm. The firm has rewarded partner Paul Clement for his triumph Thursday in the big New York gun-rights case (see nearby) by telling him to drop his gun clients or leave the firm.
As Mr. Clement and his litigation partner, Erin Murphy, explain nearby, they’re leaving the firm rather than dump their clients. That’s the honorable and ethical decision.
As a partnership, Kirkland & Ellis has to look to its bottom line. If they think a particular practice will cause them to lose other clients, they have a duty to their partners to consider withdrawing from that line of business. I’m sure the tobacco industry faced similar issues in the latter stages of the litigation that crippled that industry.
The Kirkland & Ellis demarche to Clement requiring him to abandon his clients or leave the law firm is particularly troubling. Clement was involved in defending a core Constitutional right in a climate where RightThinking™ people disagree with this right. If there was ever a time when an ethical (lolol) law firm should take a case, it should be when an unpopular right or freedom is under assault.
The craven cowardice of Kirkland & Ellis, in this case, is not unprecedented. The same thing happened during the losing battle Western Civilization fought against homosexual marriage. Law firms dropped cases defending actual marriage. Lawyers who litigated on behalf of sanity were ostracized.
While we must acknowledge that Kirkland & Ellis is in business to make money for their partners, we can’t be blind to what this means. It means that the number of lawyers willing to take on Second Amendment cases will shrink, and the quality of those lawyers along with it.
It means that when men like Clement retire, there will not be a generation to succeed them. It means that young and talented lawyers will be reluctant to enter a field of practice that effectively limits their economic prospects.
When major appellate firms who should have a duty to defend the Constitution become so woke and fearful that they will not take unpopular cases, it is a dangerous time for us all.Ecclesiastes 10:2 ...........
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June 24th, 2022, 12:03 PM #2
Re: Lawyers that won 2nd amendment case fired from law firm
Yes there are only a few good lawyers. The rest are scum
Its easier to fool people than to convince them they've been fooled....Mark Twain
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June 24th, 2022, 02:03 PM #3Senior Member
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Re: Lawyers that won 2nd amendment case fired from law firm
The WSJ also covered this.
"Kirkland, one of the world’s largest law firms, declined to comment beyond its news release."
I wonder how many of their other lawers won a case in the SC?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/winning...le_email_share
The two lawyers also had an OpEd in the WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/2nd-ame...le_email_share
Winning Lawyers in Supreme Court Gun Case Leave Firm
Partners Paul Clement and Erin Murphy depart Kirkland & Ellis after it says it won’t take any more Second Amendment cases
WASHINGTON—Discord over gun rights erupted within the law firm that secured Thursday’s Second Amendment victory at the Supreme Court, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP announcing shortly after the decision that it would no longer take firearms cases and that it was parting ways with the two star partners who won the case.
After a Kirkland news release praising Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration, and Erin Murphy, the two announced they were opening their own firm.
“Unfortunately, we were given a stark choice: either withdraw from ongoing representations or withdraw from the firm,” Mr. Clement said. “Anyone who knows us and our views regarding professional responsibility and client loyalty knows there was only one course open to us: We could not abandon ongoing representations just because a client’s position is unpopular in some circles.”
Mr. Clement, whose clients include the National Rifle Association, represented its affiliate, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, in November arguments before the Supreme Court. Ms. Murphy worked on the case with him.
“Paul and Erin have been valued colleagues,” Jon Ballis, chairman of Kirkland’s executive committee, said in a release. “We wish them the best of luck in the future and we look forward to collaborating with them in the future in matters not involving the Second Amendment.”
Kirkland, one of the world’s largest law firms, declined to comment beyond its news release.
After recent mass shootings, other Kirkland clients began expressing reservations over the firm’s work for the gun movement, a person familiar with the matter said. Kirkland “started getting a lot of pressure post-Uvalde, hearing from several big-dollar clients that they were uncomfortable,” this person said. “Several partners agreed that they should drop that representation.”
On May 24, 19 children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, by an 18-year-old gunman before he was shot dead by federal officers. That followed the May 14 massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., that left 10 people dead.
Mr. Clement and Ms. Murphy, both former law clerks at the Supreme Court, have worked together for years at a series of different firms, representing business clients and bringing test cases to advance conservative legal objectives. Their new firm, to be based in Washington, will be called Clement & Murphy, they said.
It wasn’t the first time Mr. Clement has quit a corporate law firm that grew uncomfortable with the conservative causes he has represented. In 2011, Mr. Clement left King & Spalding LLP rather than drop his representation of House Republicans seeking to uphold the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which denied recognition to same-sex couples married under state law. In 2013, the Supreme Court found the statute unconstitutional.
“I resign out of the firmly held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client’s legal position is unpopular in certain quarters,” Mr. Clement said then in a letter to King & Spalding’s chairman. “Defending unpopular decisions is what lawyers do.”
Mr. Clement and Ms. Murphy both left King & Spalding for the firm Bancroft PLLC, founded by another veteran of the Bush Justice Department, former Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh. In 2016, the three lawyers all moved to Kirkland. In 2018, Mr. Dinh left that firm to become chief legal and policy officer of Fox Corp., which shares common ownership with News Corp, parent of Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co.
Laura Kusisto contributed to this article.
Write to Jess Bravin at jess.bravin+1@wsj.com
Appeared in the June 24, 2022, print edition as 'Partners Who Won Case Quit Law Firm'.Last edited by wew3; June 24th, 2022 at 03:16 PM.
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June 24th, 2022, 06:09 PM #4
Re: Lawyers that won 2nd amendment case fired from law firm
Maybe the law firm should make itself more mainstream with the majority of the population instead of the smug self worshipping circle it presently identifies as its peer group.
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June 24th, 2022, 06:16 PM #5
Re: Lawyers that won 2nd amendment case fired from law firm
More wokeness.
Sticks and stones will break my bones but hollow points expand on impact.
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June 24th, 2022, 07:34 PM #6
Re: Lawyers that won 2nd amendment case fired from law firm
Bunch of New York woke douches. What else would you expect of them?
Corruption is the default behavior of government officials. JPC
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June 24th, 2022, 07:56 PM #7
Re: Lawyers that won 2nd amendment case fired from law firm
Liberals are such a bunch of big, stinky pieces of crap - with corn.
I called to check my ZIP CODE!....DY-NO-MITE!!!
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June 25th, 2022, 01:03 AM #8
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June 25th, 2022, 02:23 AM #9
Re: Lawyers that won 2nd amendment case fired from law firm
Corruption is the default behavior of government officials. JPC
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June 25th, 2022, 05:18 AM #10
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