Sullivan & Cromwell is facing serious internal tensions as partners clash over the firm’s growing entanglement with Donald Trump as a client.
The Wall Street Journal confirmed reports of a significant internal dispute at the prestigious Wall Street firm over the scope of its Trump representation.
When Sullivan & Cromwell took Trump on as a client, partner Bob Giuffra reportedly drew a clear boundary for the partnership about what cases the firm would handle.
Giuffra assured partners that the firm would manage Trump’s criminal appeal over the falsified business records conviction and his civil fraud judgment appeal, nothing more.
Critically, Giuffra told partners that the Carroll cases, where a jury found Trump sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, were entirely off limits.
That assurance has since collapsed, according to the Journal, with Sullivan & Cromwell quietly stepping in to help Trump prepare a Supreme Court petition.
The petition seeks review of the $83 million defamation verdict against Trump, a case entirely separate from the $5 million verdict the Supreme Court already declined to review.
The decision to take Trump on as a client was made by the firm’s executive committee rather than the larger managing partners committee, which typically holds final authority over controversial representations.
The executive committee did not consult the managing partners committee about the firm’s involvement in the Carroll matter, and the firm had previously denied involvement in the case to media.
Sullivan & Cromwell reportedly took on the Carroll defamation work at the urging of Trump’s personal attorney Boris Epshteyn, deepening the controversy inside the partnership.
Trump had appealed the sexual abuse verdict in 2025 and lost that appeal in September before asking the Supreme Court to review the case, which it declined in June.
The firm has reportedly instructed its lawyers not to speak to the press about any Trump-related work and to report any contact from journalists to firm leadership.
More recently, Sullivan & Cromwell has warned that any lawyers caught leaking information about the Trump representation risk being dismissed from the firm entirely.
Above the Law has tracked the firm’s deepening relationship with the White House for over a year, including ethics questions surrounding Giuffra’s role and government positions flowing to Sullivan & Cromwell alumni.
What has changed, as Above the Law noted, is that the firm’s stated red line on Trump representation was apparently drawn in pencil.