Expert Report of Professor Bruce A. Green

Key Excerpts

• [U]njustified restrictions should not be imposed on “the freedom of clients to choose a lawyer.” D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 5.6, cmt. [1].
• The Executive Order will interfere with th[e] fundamental obligation of lawyers [to provide effective assistance of counsel] because it will chill Perkins Coie and other law firms from representing clients zealously and diligently, for fear of being branded pariahs by the federal government.
• Whenever matters might come to the President’s attention, the Executive Order creates a conflict between the client’s lawful interests and the lawyers’ self-interest in avoiding offense to the President lest the federal government take measures to destroy their law practices.