Updated May 02, 2025 at 09:06 AM ET
Over nearly 40 years of legal practice, Abbe Lowell has seen a lot.
He's represented the son of former President Joe Biden and the son-in-law of President Trump. He's defended members of Congress from both major political parties and super lobbyists.
Now, Lowell is doing something new: he's starting his own small law firm, Lowell & Associates.
"Our first and foremost obligation will always be to zealously represent an individual client," Lowell said. "But by zealously representing an individual client, if we can be a force to strengthen the overall rule of law, that's what it's about."
The creation of the firm comes as the legal profession has been in the crosshairs of Trump's bevy of executive actions in his first three months in office. Trump has targeted individual law firms with executive orders that they view as retribution, while federal judges who have ruled against the Trump administration have been confronting a wave of threats.
Lately, some of the individuals Lowell represents have also drawn the ire of the current president.
That list includes New York's Democratic Attorney General Letitia James, who led a civil fraud investigation into Trump and the Trump Organization; former Trump administration staffer Miles Taylor, who wrote a tell-all book about it; and lawyer Mark Zaid, who represents whistleblowers.
"We are not a partisan firm," Lowell said. "We are not trying to make a political statement. What we're trying to do is respond to the moment, which is very different than it's been."
One difference is the attention on law firms. Trump has said these firms are abusing the legal system and pursuing baseless partisan attacks.
Some of those firms are fighting his orders in court. Many others are striking deals with the White House.
The president talked about some of those deals an in interview with ABC News this week.
"These are the most powerful firms in the world," Trump said. "And they just signed whatever I put in front of 'em. I've never seen anything like it. I'm — I'm actually surprised myself in a certain way."
The settlements have been controversial, including among young lawyers. Two of them — Rachel Cohen and Brenna Trout Frey — used to work at the Skadden firm.
But they resigned recently, as Skadden agreed to do $100 million of pro bono work with Trump in March.
Now, Lowell said, they're joining his new law firm.
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