A coalition of 60 law firms has joined business leaders to oppose laws making harder to vote

[LetMyPeopleVote]

This makes me smile https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121608

A coalition of 60 major law firms has come together “to challenge voter suppression legislation and to support national legislation to protect voting rights and increase voter participation,” said Brad Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul Weiss and the organizer of the group, which has not been formally announced.

Mr. Karp said the coalition would “emphatically denounce legislative efforts to make voting harder, not easier, for all eligible voters, by imposing unnecessary obstacles and barriers on the right to vote.”

Many of Wall Street’s most powerful firms are also part of the effort, including Simpson Thacher; Skadden Arps; Akin Gump; Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Ropes & Gray; Sullivan & Cromwell; Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Wachtell Lipton.

“We plan to challenge any election law that would impose unnecessary barriers on the right to vote and that would disenfranchise underrepresented groups in our country,” Mr. Karp said.

The firms will work with the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit organization, to identify laws that it might challenge in court. Mr. Karp said that could include challenging the voting law that Republicans passed in Georgia last month, and which set off a national debate over voting rights.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. Good. Do it!

[nykym]

2. and they need to

refuse to represent any legislator who goes along with the restrictive voting laws.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. These are all biglaw firms

You do not want to know what their average billing rates are. Most state legislatures could not afford these firms

[wryter2000]

4. Dumb legal question

My understanding was you can't sue someone unless you've been hurt in some way. No one is going to be hurt by these laws until they try to register or vote. How can someone bring suit now?

Is it a matter of asking for an injunction to prevent the hurt in advance?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. There are a number of lawsuits that have already been filed

You can seek an injunction to prevent the violation of a civil or other right

[MerryHolidays]

5. That is an enormously powerful group of US-headquartered law firms

When you couple their collective legal firepower with someone like Marc Elias, the Rethugs are toast. It is also a sure sign that the many huge companies they represent in the US and around the world are comfortable with their legal counsel being so public about their support to fight the patently illegal actions to suppress votes.

Seriously....completely blackened burnt toast...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. There are some strong law firms

Link to tweet

King & Spalding and Troutman Pepper, a pair of global firms with deep roots in Atlanta, told Bloomberg Law generally that they oppose voter suppression.

“We support voting rights for all Americans, oppose any undue and discriminatory restrictions to the ballot box, and stand firmly with those who support full and fair access to the voting process in Georgia and across the country,” Troutman Pepper said in statement provided to Bloomberg Law by spokeswoman Diane Iselin.,,,,,

arp, the Paul Weiss chairman, has asked the leaders of the 100 largest law firms in the country to sign on to a general statement denouncing “all efforts to restrict the constitutional right of every eligible American to vote and to participate in our democracy,” according to an email obtained by Bloomberg Law. The statement doesn’t specifically reference Georgia.

Fifteen firms have signed on to the statement, Karp told other industry leaders in a Tuesday email.

Those firms are: Akin Gump; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Cravath Swaine & Moore; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Debevoise & Plimpton; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; Milbank; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; O’Melveny & Myers; Ropes & Gray; Simpson Thacher; Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom; Sullivan & Cromwell; Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz; and Weil Gotshal & Manges.

[malaise]

6. This is great news

Rec

[PortTack]

7. Turn it up!! What great news..this and the CEOs may be just the right mix for Manchin to change his

Mind.

[roamer65]

8. A legal "demolition derby".

My money is on the big law firms!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Big Company General Counsel Join Big Law Voting Rights Statement

This also makes me smile

Link to tweet

Nearly 20 current and former general counsel of major corporations have joined Big Law leaders in signing a statement opposing voter disenfranchisement, following changes to Georgia’s voting laws.

“Equal access to voting is a fundamental right in the United States,” the statement, which doesn’t explicitly mention Georgia, says. “We, the undersigned law firm managing partners and corporate general counsel, denounce all efforts to restrict the constitutional right of every eligible American to vote and to participate in our democracy.”

The top lawyers that have signed the letter represent companies like American International Group Inc., Starbucks Corp., ViacomCBS Inc., and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. None of the in-house leaders who had signed the statement as of Monday afternoon work for Georgia-headquartered companies.

More than 60 leaders of AmLaw 100 firms have also signed on in support of “making voting easier, not harder, for all eligible voters,” said the statement, which was circulated among legal industry leaders by Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp and AIG General Counsel Lucy Fato.

[Red Mountain]

12. The fight is shaping up....

who will oppose them?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. Top private law firms plan 'SWAT teams' to fight voting restrictions in court

These firms are stepping up to fight GOP voter suppression https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/top-private-law-firms-plan-swat-teams-fight-voting-laws-n1263891?fbclid=IwAR0YgQfAX9-aVGI9V7uCL656oy63MKKJIPSXFrrauxOiNW2DP3lom8fG4Fg

First, it was the businesses. Now, it's the bar.

More than a dozen of the country's top law firms have committed to join forces to challenge voting restrictions across the country, adding legal might to the corporate pressure campaign opposing Republican-led attempts to overhaul elections in the wake of former President Donald Trump's loss.

One of the effort's leaders, Brad Karp, chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison of New York, said Monday that 16 firms had signed on so far, including his. The lawyers will act like "SWAT teams" for legal action, he said. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale School of Management professor who is working to help mobilize corporate America against the restrictions, described the legal coalition as an "army of election law experts ready to dispatch at a moment's notice."

The group came together from conversations among major law firms about publicly taking a stand against restrictive voting laws like the one enacted in Georgia last month, as well as bills under consideration in Texas, Arizona, Florida and other states.