2025-03-31
8 分钟Welcome to Editor's Picks. I'm Charlotte Howard.
I'm the co-host of our American podcast, Checks and Balance.
You are about to hear an article we have chosen from the most recent edition of The Economist.
Thanks for tuning in.
It passes for a courtroom truism that whoever wins or loses,
the lawyers come out on top, especially in litigious America.
The same goes for political outcomes.
Had Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party won the presidential and congressional elections in November,
white shoe firms would have expected less work on mergers and acquisitions,
or M&A, but more representing corporate clients before regulatory agencies.
With Donald Trump and the notionally pro-business Republicans in charge,
you might have guessed the opposite.
Either way, billable hours beckoned.
As with many self-evident truths in American life, this president has other ideas.
In February, he suspended the security clearances of some attorneys at one law firm,
Covington and Burling.
Days later he did the same to all of Perkins CUE,
a second also limiting its employees access to federal buildings and officials among various other sanctions.
Then he lashed out at a third, Paul Weiss.
On March 25th he hit one more, Jenner and Block.