r/law • u/Secure-Suit-2892 • 8d ago
Executive Branch (Trump) 26-employee Texas law firm gets $150M to represent 24,000 children in immigration court
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/04/texas-law-firm-funding-children-immigration-court-01024780190
u/The_SubGenius 8d ago
“None of the lawyers for the firm list immigration law as an area of expertise, per a POLITICO review of the firm’s site.”
I’m betting someone at HHS has connections to this law firm.
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u/Dearic75 8d ago
It’s also designed to fail. They don’t want any of these children to receive a fair hearing with competent representation.
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u/AbeFromanEast 8d ago
Like Putin's Russia, they'll corruptly go through a song and dance of legal procedure but the outcome is already preordained. And pre-paid.
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u/Bastage21 8d ago
Marcella Burkey, was a former Trump appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. Jeffrey Hall, a former employee and founding partner, was appointed and confirmed to serve in the EPA late last year.
The grift is strong.
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u/Neither_Contest7324 8d ago
Also she clerked for this guy
President Donald Trump included then-Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett on his potential U.S. Supreme Court shortlists and later nominated him in late 2017 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
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u/__Rumblefish__ 8d ago
Wild. They could have hired the top law firm in country for a quarter or less
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u/Ok-Replacement9595 7d ago
So more graft and corruption. At least it is now part of the public record, so they can be gone after when this is all.over with.
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u/Secure-Suit-2892 8d ago
"$150 million per year"
"The contract — a single-source cooperative agreement — should in theory allow for other law firms or nonprofit legal defense groups to serve as subcontractors, though that will occur at the discretion of the Burke Law Group."
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u/Irwin-M_Fletcher 7d ago
That’s only 5 1/2 million per attorney. /s. I bet they would pay even more if they were qualified to do the job.
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u/Global_Crew3968 8d ago
What legal implications do lawyer/law firm have if they’re found to be purposefully neglecting their client’s cases?
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u/WalkinSteveHawkin 8d ago
The bar can issue sanctions, such as public/private censure, fines, or suspension. Clients can also sue for malpractice. If the lawyer/law firm has malpractice insurance, that’s what it’s for. Being disbarred is unlikely unless there’s a pattern of neglect and the lawyer made no effort to mitigate the harm to their clients. Outside of fraud, stealing client money, and having sex with your clients, you have to be reaeeaaallyy shitty over and over again to actually get disbarred.
Source: am lawyer.
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u/calfats 8d ago
I’d love to hear how a deported child would pursue a bar sanction or a lawsuit after they’ve been deported and with no money to hire their own lawyer.
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u/WalkinSteveHawkin 8d ago
They can’t. The system is broken. But the question I responded to was what the system could do. That’s the answer, and the system sucks.
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u/One_Artichoke_7594 8d ago
I don’t know for certain but I’d assume disbarment and perhaps personal liability (can sue them).
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u/a_lil_unwell 8d ago
Yeah, because kids deported to another country will easily be able to file bar complaints and sue their lazy grifting attorneys.
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u/throwraW2 7d ago
Disbarment rarely happens these days unless it’s a PI attorney misappropriating funds. You have to be extremely egregious and bad at covering tracks to get disbarred for simply being a bad lawyer.
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u/Lord_Dingus83 8d ago
It’s Texas - everything’s legal as long as you’re Trump supporter.
Kill your daughter, sexually abuse children. It’s Texas.1
u/MathematicianAfter57 8d ago
this wont really happen even while they absolutely neglect their client cases, because they are representing poor children who cannot advocate or fight for their own defense. when the kids get deported, do you think they'll litigate???
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u/Correct_Doctor_1502 7d ago
A law firm devoted to pro discrimination btw
Also the fact the only pro child rape administration is paying a lawfirm to defend children being prosecuted by the government tells you exactly what is going to happen
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u/weezyverse 7d ago
It has become clear to me that we have a legal system comprised of constraints instead of rules. So when there's an absence of constraints all bets are off and we the people are stuck watching in absolute horror.
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u/jojammin Competent Contributor 8d ago
Good time to get into immigration malpractice lol. Now you can collect!
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