Skadden Arps in talks with Trump team to avoid executive order, New York Times reports

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has had discussions with advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump about a deal to avoid an executive order like those imposed on some of its competitors, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The report cited five people briefed on the matter and said two of the sources also said other firms were in discussions with Trump’s team.

It added that deals with multiple law firms could be announced in the coming days – something that Trump also suggested during an event at the White House on Wednesday.

Representatives for the White House and Skadden did not immediately provide comment.

Skadden, a top Wall Street law firm, has represented clients including JPMorgan, Citigroup, Barclays, and Johnson & Johnson.

The firm represented Elon Musk, a top ally to Trump, in Musk’s $44 billion purchase of social media platform Twitter, now known as X, in 2022.

However, Musk criticized Skadden in a post on X on Sunday over its work for a Georgia voter who was accused of ballot fraud in the film “2000 Mules” and who filed a defamation lawsuit against Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative pundit and co-director of the film.

D’Souza accused Skadden of being “engaged in systematic lawfare” against his movie in a March 23 post on X, leading Musk to post, “Skadden, this needs to stop now.”

Since taking office in January, Trump has issued executive orders targeting elite U.S. law firms Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale. The president later withdrew his order on Paul Weiss after striking a deal with the firm.

The firms targeted so far have employed lawyers who investigated Trump or worked with his political rivals. The orders restricted access to government officials and federal buildings for lawyers at the firms and threatened to cancel government contracts held by their clients.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Jamie Freed)