US president Donald Trump has launched an investigation into the employment practices of a group of as yet unnamed leading US law firms as he ramps up his campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I).

The move was revealed in an executive order signed by Trump yesterday (6 March) targeting Perkins Coie for its work for Democrats, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election.

The order suspends security clearance for Perkins Coie employees and mandates government agencies to take “appropriate steps to terminate any contract” with the law firm.

It also accuses Perkins Coie of discriminating against its attorneys and staff through its DE&I policies, stating that it “publicly announced percentage quotas in 2019 for hiring and promotion on the basis of race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws”.

The order instigates a review by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission acting chair Andrea Lucas of  “representative large, influential, or industry leading law firms” to assess the legality of their policies.

At the signing ceremony, Trump said he believed about 15 firms were being reviewed, although his aide Will Scharf suggested it could be more.

Perkins Coie issued a statement saying it intended to challenge the order which it described as “patently unlawful”.

It is the second firm Trump has targeted after he signed an order last month suspending clearances for Covington & Burling employees advising Jack Smith, the special counsel who led two criminal cases against Trump.

The latest executive order comes against the background of strong criticism of the administration by the American Bar Association (ABA) which issued a lengthy statement on 3 March condemning attacks on judges by administration officials and accusing Trump of punishing law firms because of whom they represent.

The ABA has also mounted a legal challenge against the freezing of foreign assistance funding, which supports initiatives for training lawyers and judges.

At the same time, it has been threatened with the removal of its role in accrediting law schools over its diversity policy in relation to student admissions following the Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 ruling that programmes at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unconstitutional because they gave weight to students’ race.

That decision prompted a number of law firms, including Perkins Coie, to change their DE&I policies.