3 Asian Legal Business | January-February 2025 TheBriefsYour monthly need-to-know (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump’s avalanche of executive actions early in his second term have left companies scrambling for answers. The country’s major corporate law firms are competing to be the ones picking up the phone. Since Trump’s Republican administration took office, law firms have inundated client inboxes with alerts and analyses, advertised new task forces, planned or hosted dozens of webinars and constructed websites to track and explain the flood of executive orders. One firm’s newly launched webpage tracking White House orders even became an unlikely viral hit. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld said the page had received hundreds of thousands of views after it was mentioned in early media coverage of the president’s actions. Law firms regularly use such tools to vie for attention from corporate legal departments after a major regulatory change. What’s different, law firm practice chiefs said, is the speed and scale of Trump’s executive orders and the White House’s aggressive agenda on issues ranging from tariffs and energy production to immigration enforcement and a crackdown on diversity initiatives. “The administration is moving at warp speed,” says Jason Schwartz, who co-leads the labour and employment group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and clients are desperate for fast guidance. Some of the most pressing questions concern Trump’s executive order directing agencies to investigate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the private sector for alleged discrimination. Law firms joust for attention as clients weigh Trump policy blitz Companies want to know if they are in the government’s anti-DEI crosshairs, Schwartz and other law firm partners said. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck has also put together an online Trump executive action tracker. Crowell & Moring, Holland & Knight, Mayer Brown, Littler Mendelson, Paul Hastings, Ropes & Gray, and others have produced alerts and webinars. Aaron Cutler, who leads the government relations and public affairs practice at Hogan Lovells, said the firm is also launching an online hub for Trump’s executive actions. He says he’s heard in particular from energy sector companies seeking advice on the executive orders, and he has also sorganised calls with healthcare, financial services and other companies. Cutler says clients want immediate help analysing the president’s orders. The next step is “coming up with a game plan,” including marshalling people at the firm to get more information directly from the federal agencies involved. The orders are “changing the direction of the government,” says Rich Gold, leader of the public policy and regulation group at Holland & Knight. “The actual application of how that will change and impact the economy is usually through rulemaking,” he says, promising plenty of work for lawyers and lobbyists in the months ahead. Crowell’s Aaron Cummings, co-chair of its government affairs team, says the firm is providing real-time advice to clients, including to manage risk “and take advantage of opportunities” the new administration brings. “Trump has an ambitious agenda, and he is getting right to it,” Cummings adds.
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