• Four top Paul Weiss partners announced Friday that they've resigned to start their own firm.
• Paul Weiss is one of the firms that made a deal with Trump to reverse an EO against the firm.
• The Big Law firms that have negotiated with Trump have faced criticism from others in the profession.

Four partners at Paul Weiss announced Friday that they are leaving the white-shoe firm, which two months ago struck a deal with the Trump administration.

Karen Dunn, a star litigator who has helped Democratic candidates prepare for presidential debates, her longtime partners Bill Isaacson and Jessica Phillips, and the former prosecutor Jeannie Rhee said in an email addressed to "partners and friends" that they are starting their own firm.

The high-profile departures underscore the ongoing turmoil at Big Law firms surrounding the firms' handling of punitive executive actions from President Donald Trump's administration. The departing lawyers did not give a reason for leaving in their statement.

Several major firms — including Perkins Coie and Jenner & Block — chose to challenge the legality of the orders in court, and have so far been successful after two judges declared two different orders unconstitutional. Other firms, including Paul Weiss, chose to make deals with the administration, prompting concern among associates and partners over their willingness to cooperate rather than fight.

The new firm's name isn't clear. Since April, several domain names containing Dunn's name and those of other lawyers have been registered anonymously. None of the websites contains any details, and it's not clear who registered them.

The lawyers have represented prominent clients like Google, Amazon, and Apple over the years. Isaacson is one of the country's top antitrust litigators. Antitrust issues have been a focus for both former President Joe Biden and Trump, who have criticized the power of large tech companies. Rhee managed the firm's Washington, DC, office, and Dunn co-chaired its litigation department.

"It has been an honor to work alongside such talented lawyers and to call so many of you our friends," their departing email said. "We hope to continue to collaborate with all of you in the years to come and are incredibly grateful for your warm and generous partnership."

Paul Weiss's chair, Brad Karp, said in a statement, "We are grateful to Bill, Jeannie, Jessica, and Karen for their many contributions to the firm. We wish them well in their future endeavors."

The departures come several months after the Trump administration began targeting Big Law firms with punitive executive actions. Among them was Paul Weiss, which faced an executive order that revoked the security clearances of the firm's attorneys and ordered a review of its government contracts.

On March 20, Trump announced on Truth Social that he would drop the executive order against Paul Weiss after negotiating a deal that would require the firm to end any diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in its hiring practices and contribute $40 million of pro bono legal services to causes aligned with the administration's priorities, such as veterans affairs issues and the administration's antisemitism task force.

Business Insider previously reported that the copy of the deal shared internally among Paul Weiss partners omitted language regarding DEI that was present in the president's announcement.

Other firms that chose to negotiate with Trump also saw high-profile departures from partners and associates concerned with their firms' decisions not to challenge the administration.

Wilkie Farr lost its longest-serving lawyer in April after Joseph Baio, a partner who'd worked there for 47 years, resigned over the firm's preemptive deal with Trump, The New York Times reported.

Another firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, made a preemptive deal with the Trump administration in late March to avoid a similar executive order against it. The decision led to a series of public resignations from several Skadden associates, including Rachel Cohen and Brenna Frey.

Cohen told Business Insider she had not been in touch with the attorneys who had resigned from Paul Weiss on Friday.

• The executive order targeting Big Law firm Jenner & Block was ruled unconstitutional on Friday.
• In his ruling, District Judge John Bates said the EO retaliated against the firm for protected speech.
• This is the second executive order targeting a Big Law firm that has been struck down.

Another of President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting a Big Law firm has been struck down after a US District Judge on Friday said the action against Jenner & Block was unconstitutional.

The entire order, which revoked the security clearances of the firm's attorneys and required a review of its government contracts, was invalidated by the judge's ruling, representing a major win for Jenner & Block.

"The order raises constitutional eyebrows many times over. It punishes and seeks to silence speech 'at the very center of the First Amendment,'" US District Judge John Bates, of the District Court of DC wrote in his ruling, adding that Trump's order did so "via the most 'egregious form of content discrimination — viewpoint discrimination,'" and "in an unacceptable attempt to 'insulate the Government's laws from judicial inquiry.'"

A spokesperson for Jenner & Block directed Business Insider to their public statement following the ruling, which said that the firm is "pleased with the court's decision to decisively strike down an unconstitutional attack on our clients' right to have zealous, independent counsel and our firm's right to represent our clients fully and without compromise."

"Our decision to fight the executive order in court is rooted in Jenner & Block's history and values: we fiercely advocate for our clients under all circumstances," the firm's statement continued. "This ruling demonstrates the importance of lawyers standing firm on behalf of clients and for the law. That is what Jenner will continue to do for our clients — paying and pro bono — as we look to put this matter behind us."

Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The federal government can appeal the decision, in which case the proceedings will be heard in the court of appeals. Any subsequent appeal would be heard by the Supreme Court.

The decision from US District Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, is the second order striking down an executive order from Trump targeting a law firm.

Earlier this month, another judge blocked an order targeting Perkins Coie, ruling that Trump's use of federal power "an overt attempt to suppress and punish certain viewpoints."

Judges have also temporarily paused executive orders targeting the law firms Susman Godfrey and Wilmer Hale, pending decisions on whether to permanently block them.

At an April hearing for Jenner & Block's case, Bates snapped at the Justice Department lawyer, Richard Lawson, who argued Trump's executive order should stand.

"Give me a break," Bates said, as Lawson argued federal agencies should follow Trump's command because Jenner & Block engaged in "racial discrimination."

In the now-blocked executive order, Trump specifically singled out attorney Andrew Weissmann, a Jenner employee who served as a lead prosecutor in Robert Mueller's special counsel's office, which investigated Trump's ties to Russia in 2016. The order described Weissmann's career as "rooted in weaponized government and abuse of power."

Judge Bates's ruling described Trump's order and the subsequent legal battle over its legality as "no run-of-the-mill retaliation case," adding that the president "has displayed a great deal of animosity toward Jenner."

"Further adverse actions would not be shocking — and could very well offend the Constitution as plainly as Executive Order 14246 does," Bates wrote. "But Article III requires this Court to place its faith in future courts to prevent harm from befalling Jenner if and when that occurs."