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). The In New York State Rifle and Pistol Association vs. BruenThe Supreme Court smashed a pseudo-jurisprudence based on the Second Amendment, which treats the right of possessing and carrying weapons as an artifact instead of a fundamental American value.
Paul Clement was the former US Solicitor general. He led the litigation team that represented the Americans in this matter. Clement has extensive and successful Second Amendment appellate experience; he represented the US government’s position in District of Columbia against 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, Big Law firms would hire a Second Amendment lawyer. They expect that lawyer will continue to represent these clients. If that lawyer wins a case that sets precedent before the Supreme Court that would be cause to celebrate. 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. Paul Clement, a partner at the firm, was awarded by Kirkland & Ellis for his victory in Thursday’s New York gun-rights cases (see near). The firm told him that he should either give up on his clients with guns or to leave the company.
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. Kirkland & Ellis has a responsibility to its partners to withdraw from any practice they feel will result in them losing clients. 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. Unpopular rights or freedoms are under attack, and that is when ethical (lolol-minded) law firms should handle cases. The craven cowardice of Kirkland & Ellis, in this case, is not unprecedented. Similar things happened in the losing war Western Civilization waged against homosexual marriage. Law firms dropped cases defending actual marriage. Advocates for sanity were expelled.
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. The result is that there will be less lawyers who are willing to accept Second Amendment cases, as well as a decline in quality. Clement and other men will soon be gone, leaving no generation behind. Young and skilled lawyers may be reluctant to pursue a practice area that negatively impacts their economic prospects.
We are all at risk when the major appellate companies that have an obligation to protect the Constitution suddenly become so alert and scared they don’t want to take popular cases.
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