As Midterms Near, Top Law Firms That Capitulated to Trump Are on the Sidelines

Whenever Norm Eisen, a leader of the legal resistance against President Trump, wanted to try to hold Mr. Trump accountable over the last decade, one of his first calls was to Brad Karp, the chairman of the white shoe law firm Paul Weiss.

Without hesitation, Mr. Karp would give Mr. Eisen free legal counsel on how to best oppose Mr. Trump, and would then deploy the firm’s vast legal muscle — at no cost — to help.

“He was one of the greatest champions of voting and civil rights — and for democracy — in the country, and to have someone like that advising you, resourcing you and fighting for you was indispensable,” Mr. Eisen said.

Now, as Mr. Eisen prepares to lead a coalition that has vowed to stop Mr. Trump if he tries to interfere in the midterm elections, Paul Weiss, one of nine firms to strike deals with the administration to avoid crippling executive orders, is largely on the sidelines, according to Mr. Eisen and a lawyer with direct knowledge of the matter.

The void left by Paul Weiss is only a sliver of the impact of the deals the nine firms made with Mr. Trump early in his second term. In exchange, they pledged to do nearly a billion dollars in free legal work to causes Mr. Trump champions, casting doubt on whether they would be willing to stand up to the president.

Measuring the consequences of the deals is difficult, but the lead-up to the midterm elections offers new clues. Few of the nine firms are publicly involved in the major legal efforts to check Mr. Trump and his administration’s attempts to meddle, a review of public documents and interviews with democracy advocates, election lawyers and voting rights litigators shows.