Perkins Coie government contracts lawyer leaves firm as it battles Trump order

By Mike Scarcella

April 14 (Reuters) - A former leader of Perkins Coie's government contracts group has left the firm as it fights an executive order that took direct aim at the practice.

Alexander Canizares will be co-leader of the governments contracts practice at rival Vinson & Elkins in Washington, D.C., Texas-based Vinson said on Monday.

Canizares, a former vice chair of the government contracts practice at Perkins Coie, declined to discuss the firm's standoff with the Trump administration. He said he began talking to Vinson & Elkins “quite a while ago.”

Perkins Coie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month that calls to terminate federal contracts held by Perkins Coie's clients if the firm performed any work on them.

The order also restricted Perkins Coie lawyers' access to federal buildings and officials. It accused the firm of undermining elections, citing its work on behalf of Trump's 2020 election opponent Hillary Clinton.

Perkins Coie sued Trump's administration in response, arguing the president's order violated constitutional protections for free speech and due process and the right to counsel and to petition the government.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell temporarily blocked key provisions of Trump's order last month, finding the firm's lawsuit was likely to succeed. Other judges have issued similar rulings in cases brought by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and Jenner & Block after Trump also targeted them with executive orders.

Perkins Coie in a filing this month said that the nine attorneys in its government contracts group were handling about 70 government contracting matters.

In a court filing on April 2, Perkins Coie told Howell that the firm’s 15 largest clients or their affiliates all have contracts or subcontracts with the federal government.

The firm said Trump’s executive order targeting the firm “forces the firm’s government-contractor clients to choose between keeping their government contracts and keeping their Perkins Coie lawyers.”

The firm’s top 15 clients collectively represented more than $343 million in revenue in 2024, nearly 25% of the firm’s revenue, Perkins Coie said in a court filing.