Does the legal sector play a special role in the United States compared with other countries? Should the system be considered political or technical? And how fragile is the system? Those are just a few of the questions that came up in my recent conversation with FP economics columnist Adam Tooze on the podcast we co-host, Ones and Tooze. What follows is an excerpt, edited for length and clarity. For the full conversation, look for Ones and Tooze wherever you get your podcasts. And check out Adam’s Substack newsletter.

The market for legal services in the United States was nearly $300 billion in 2024. It’s a major sector of the U.S. economy—and one that the Trump administration has recently targeted with a set of executive orders. Several orders target specific law firms that have opposed Trump in the past or assisted those he considers enemies; another more generally encourages the Justice Department to refer any attorneys for disciplinary action if they file “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation” against the government. The government’s outright pressure has put the basic stability of U.S. law firms into question.

The market for legal services in the United States was nearly $300 billion in 2024. It’s a major sector of the U.S. economy—and one that the Trump administration has recently targeted with a set of executive orders. Several orders target specific law firms that have opposed Trump in the past or assisted those he considers enemies; another more generally encourages the Justice Department to refer any attorneys for disciplinary action if they file “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation” against the government.