Latest news with #legalProfession
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Judge strikes down Trump order that targeted US law firm WilmerHale
Donald Trump's campaign against the legal profession hit another setback Tuesday as a federal judge struck down yet another executive order that sought to place sanctions one of the country's most prestigious law firms. The order in favor of WilmerHale marks the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has deemed Trump's series of law firm executive orders to be unconstitutional and has permanently barred their enforcement. 'The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The Founding Fathers knew this!' wrote US district judge Richard Leon. To permit the order to stand, Leon wrote, 'would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers'. The firm applauded the ruling from Leon, an appointee of former Republican president George HW Bush. 'The court's decision to permanently block the unlawful executive order in its entirety strongly affirms our foundational constitutional rights and those of our clients. We remain proud to defend our firm, our people, and our clients,' a spokesperson for the firm said. The ruling was similar to one from Friday by a different judge that rejected a Trump edict against the firm of Jenner & Block and another one from earlier in the month in favor of the firm Perkins Coie. The firms had all been subjected to Trump executive orders that sought to impose the same set of consequences, including suspending security clearances of attorneys and barring employees from federal buildings. The orders have been part of a broader effort by the president to reshape American civil society by targeting perceived adversaries in hopes of extracting concessions from them and bending them to his will. Several of the firms singled out for sanctions have either done legal work that Trump has opposed, or currently have or previously had associations with prosecutors who at one point investigated the president. The order against WilmerHale, for instance, cited the fact that the firm previously employed former justice department special counsel Robert Mueller, who led an investigation during Trump's first term into potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Other major firms have sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that require them, among other things, to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes the Trump administration says it supports.
Washington Post
27-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump campaign against law firms dealt another setback as judge blocks executive order
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's campaign against the legal profession hit another setback Tuesday as a federal judge struck down yet another executive order that sought to sanction one of the country's most prestigious law firms. The order in favor of WilmerHale marks the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has deemed Trump's series of law firm executive orders to be unconstitutional and has permanently barred their enforcement.
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Trump campaign against law firms dealt another setback as judge blocks executive order
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's campaign against the legal profession hit another setback Tuesday as a federal judge struck down yet another executive order that sought to sanction one of the country's most prestigious law firms. The order in favor of WilmerHale marks the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has deemed Trump's series of law firm executive orders to be unconstitutional and has permanently barred their enforcement. 'The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The Founding Fathers knew this!' wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Leon. To permit the order to stand, Leon wrote, 'would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers.' The firm applauded the ruling from Leon, an appointee of former Republican President George H.W. Bush. 'The Court's decision to permanently block the unlawful executive order in its entirety strongly affirms our foundational constitutional rights and those of our clients. We remain proud to defend our firm, our people, and our clients,' a spokesperson for the firm said. The ruling was similar to one from Friday by a different judge that rejected a Trump edict against the firm of Jenner & Block and another one from earlier in the month in favor of the firm Perkins Coie. The firms had all been subjected to Trump executive orders that sought to impose the same set of consequences, including suspending security clearances of attorneys and barring employees from federal buildings. The orders have been part of a broader effort by the president to reshape American civil society by targeting perceived adversaries in hopes of extracting concessions from them and bending them to his will. Several of the firms singled out for sanctions have either done legal work that Trump has opposed, or currently have or previously had associations with prosecutors who at one point investigated the president. The order against WilmerHale, for instance, cited the fact that the firm previously employed former Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who led an investigation during Trump's first term into potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Other major firms have sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that require them, among other things, to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes the Trump administration says it supports.
Zawya
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
President confers posthumous Senior Counsel status on Adv Dumalisile Philemon Pearce Nokwe
President Cyril Ramaphosa has honoured the late struggle veteran and human rights lawyer Advocate Dumalisile Philemon Pearce Nokwe with the posthumous conferral of the honorary title of Senior Counsel (Silk) for the Republic of South Africa. The President has bestowed this conferral on the late Adv Nokwe on the eve of the esteemed legal practitioner's reburial in West Park Cemetery, Johannesburg, tomorrow, Saturday, 17 May 2025. He will be reburied along with his wife, Mrs Vuyiswa Malangabi-Nokwe who passed away in 2008. She was a distinguished activist in her own right and had obtained a BSc and Bachelor of Education degree. Advocate 'Duma' Nokwe passed away in Zambia in 1978, at the age of 50. He had lived in exile since 1963. His mortal remains were repatriated to South Africa in 2024. President Ramaphosa has accorded Adv Nokwe a Special Provincial Official Funeral and the President will deliver a tribute at tomorrow's ceremony. The posthumous honour bestowed on the first African advocate of the Supreme Court is a high honour that recognises Adv Nokwe's expertise and contribution to the legal profession. President Ramaphosa has conferred the status of Senior Counsel on Adv Nokwe in line with the provisions of the Legal Practice Act of 2014, which governs this status and sets out the criteria for its conferral. In this instance, the Legal Practice Council and the Duma Nokwe Group of Advocates made an application to the President for the Adv Nokwe's posthumous appointment as a Senior Counsel. Adv Nokwe, who was born in 1927, obtained a BSc degree from the University of Fort Hare and a diploma in education with which he took up a teaching post in Krugersdorp. His political activism led to imprisonment during the 1952 Defiance Campaign and his dismissal by the then Transvaal Education Department. Following his participation in the 1953 World Youth Festival and visits to the then Soviet Union, China and Britain, the South African authorities imposed a banning and restriction order on him. He subsequently studied law, obtained an LLB degree and became the first black advocate to be admitted to the Johannesburg Society of Advocates. The Native Affairs Department of the time debarred him from taking chambers with his white colleagues in the Johannesburg city centre and this development led to Adv Nokwe devoting himself to the liberation struggle. He was put on trial for treason and was subjected to banning orders, arrests and assault by the police. He was elected Secretary-General of the African National Congress in 1958 and mobilised communities against apartheid until the underground leadership directed him to leave South Africa in January 1963. Adv Nokwe campaigned against the apartheid state on global platforms including those of the Organisation of African Unity and African Union, and remained an activist until he passed in Lusaka in January 1978. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa.
South China Morning Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
To be or not to be in chambers: that is the question for Hong Kong barristers
Barristers in private practice are self-employed – we are our own bosses and, theoretically, masters of our own time and working style. Advertisement There is no punching in or out for work and it is up to us whether we even wish to turn up in chambers on a given day. There is no year-end performance appraisal where your boss may want a word with you on your daily punctuality. Some say we are the 'original remote-working profession'. It may appear primed for remote working, but judging from my own experience, the profession that I entered a mere two decades ago was instead primal when it came to working from home. Case papers would come in hard-copy bundles. If you wanted to read them, then they had to be with you – you needed big carrying bags and biceps to lug them home, but we barristers usually had only one of them. Case authorities and textbooks would be hard copies on bookshelves in chambers (some more considerate than others by being in paperback). They were shared by all barristers in your chambers, so if you wanted to bring them home you had to be big, period. Advertisement Therefore, traditionally (read 'archaically'), barristers tend to be in chambers, at least when they have work to do.
