Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

WHAT THEY DID. Skadden agreed in 2025 to provide $100 million in “pro bono and other free services” to causes chosen by the President to avoid a punitive executive order. The firm has reportedly advised the Commerce Department on the administration’s effort to tie tariffs to foreign trade agreements. While doing that work, it advised Intel on the transaction in which the administration took a roughly 10 percent equity stake; an Intel shareholder complaint values the stake at $11 billion (9.9 percent) and alleges it was granted “for no meaningful consideration in response to extortionary threats by the government.” [Blumenthal press release]

WHAT DEMOCRATS HAVE SAID AND DONE. Rep. Raskin and Sen. Blumenthal wrote the deal firms, Skadden among them, in April 2025 “after Trump coerces Big Law firms into submission as part of assault on the rule of law.” [House Judiciary Democrats] Blumenthal, Raskin and Schiff wrote Skadden on Sept. 24, 2025 about its free Commerce work and possible Antideficiency Act issues. [Letter] Skadden’s Oct. 7, 2025 reply did not deny the free work for a federal agency and disputed that it violated any law or ethics standard. On July 21, 2026, in their third letter, the three lawmakers raised the Intel conflict and asked by Aug. 4 for every agreement with the administration, a list of everyone who corresponded with the firm about it, the hours and billable value of work for each federal agency, and an explanation of how advising Intel complied with the Rules of Professional Conduct. [Blumenthal press release] [Letter]

WHY IT INTENSIFIES. Skadden has drawn three letters from the presumptive Judiciary chairs and carries the most concrete client-conflict allegation in the Big Law file: advising a company on a transaction with the same department the firm was serving for free. The Intel shareholder suit builds a parallel record a Judiciary majority can draw on. The same three lawmakers told Kirkland in October that they will pursue the law-firm deals “in this Congress and the next,” [Bloomberg Law] and Law.com reported the deals “may face more lawmaker pressure after midterms.” [Law.com] Skadden says the representations comply with applicable law and ethics rules.

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