# Perkins Coie A large Seattle-founded law firm that for years housed the Democratic Party's main political-law practice. It sits in this vault for two reasons a decade apart: in 2016 it was the channel through which the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the research that became the [[Steele Dossier]]; and in 2025 it became the **first law firm Trump targeted by executive order**, and the first to beat him in court. ## The 2016 role The firm's political-law group, led by [[Marc Elias]], was general counsel to the Clinton campaign and the DNC. In April 2016 it engaged [[Fusion GPS]] to continue opposition research on Trump that the [[Washington Free Beacon]] had first paid for; Fusion then subcontracted [[Christopher Steele]]. Because the campaign and party paid the firm and reported the spending as legal services, the [[Federal Election Commission]] fined the DNC $105,000 and the campaign $8,000 in March 2022 for misreporting its purpose. A second Perkins Coie partner, [[Michael Sussmann]], who represented the DNC after the 2016 hack, took the separate [[Alfa Bank]] server allegation to the FBI in September 2016. [[John Durham]] charged him with lying about who his clients were; a jury acquitted him on May 31, 2022. Elias left the firm in 2021 to start his own practice. See [[Democracy Docket]]. ## Executive Order 14230 (March 6, 2025) Trump's order "Addressing Risks From Perkins Coie LLP" accused the firm of "dishonest and dangerous activity," citing the dossier ("a false 'dossier' designed to steal an election") and the firm's 2019 diversity hiring targets. It directed: | Section | Directive | |---|---| | 2 | Suspend security clearances held by Perkins Coie personnel | | 3 | Make government contractors disclose business with the firm; review and end contracts where permitted | | 4 | EEOC review of large law firms' diversity practices; Attorney General investigation | | 5 | Limit firm employees' access to federal buildings and officials; restrict federal hiring of its people | It was the template for the orders that followed against Jenner & Block, WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey, and for the "deals" that other large firms — beginning with Paul, Weiss in March 2025 — made to avoid one, pledging pro bono work to causes the administration favored. ## The litigation | Date | Step | |---|---| | Mar 2025 | Judge [[Beryl Howell]] temporarily blocks key parts of the order days after it is signed | | May 2, 2025 | Howell strikes the order down permanently as unconstitutional retaliation under the [[First Amendment]] | | 2025 | Jenner & Block, WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey also win in district court; the Justice Department appeals all four | | May 14, 2026 | [[DC Circuit]] hears the consolidated appeals before Chief Judge Srinivasan and Judges Pillard and Rao; the government argues the president's security-clearance power is unreviewable | | As of Sept 28, 2026 | No appellate decision located | Every firm that fought won in the trial courts; every firm that settled avoided a fight it would probably have won. That asymmetry — the threat worked on most of the industry even though it failed in court — is the lesson the vault draws in [[Trump Retribution Doctrine]] and [[Trump Retribution Ecosystem]]. See also [[Criminalizing Whistleblowers]] for the parallel targeting of lawyers who represent officials the administration dislikes. ## See Also - [[Fusion GPS]] · [[Steele Dossier]] · [[Christopher Steele]] — the 2016 chain - [[Marc Elias]] · [[Democracy Docket]] - [[Michael Sussmann]] · [[John Durham]] - [[Beryl Howell]] · [[DC Circuit]] · [[Federal Judges Hub]] - [[Trump Retribution Doctrine]] · [[Trump Retribution Ecosystem]]