Law firms that struck deals with Trump thought it’d protect their bottom line. But what if their assumptions had it backwards?

Larger arc: It's not too late for the firms that chose presidential appeasement to change course.

When Donald Trump launched an unprecedented offensive against prominent law firms, the businesses faced a difficult decision. If they appeased the president, they’d (theoretically) avoid White House punishments — penalties that the firms’ clients might have a problem with — but their reputations would suffer.....

As for the firms that went along with the White House’s demands, the news is far less good. Not only are the firms starting to realize that their deals with the president are worse than they first realized, at least one of the firms is also learning that the plan to keep prominent clients happy might be backfiring. The New York Times reported that Microsoft “has dropped a law firm that settled with the administration in favor of one that is fighting it.”

Large companies like Microsoft often farm out legal work to dozens or even hundreds of firms and may move business depending on circumstances, like pricing, expertise or potential conflicts. Microsoft declined to comment on why it changed law firms in a significant case last week, but the switch suggests that a firm that chose to fight the Trump administration could still attract an important client.

While the reporting has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, the switch has been confirmed in official court filings. About a week ago, attorneys at one firm — Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which recently reached an agreement with Trump and his team — informed a court in Delaware that it would no longer be representing Microsoft in an acquisitions case......

In the meantime, firms are also contending with a new pressure campaign. NBC News reported last week that a progressive group has launched a media campaign targeting the same firms that have already reached deals with the president.

‘Big law, stop bending the knee,’ reads a poster from the ‘Big Law Cowards’ campaign by the liberal nonprofit group Demand Justice. The group says the ads will be wheatpasted strategically around Washington on Thursday near the locations of the firms that have reached deals with the administration. The group will also have a mobile billboard circulating with ads criticizing the firms, along with a broader digital campaign.

In case this isn’t obvious, the underlying point of these efforts isn’t to chastise the firms for making the wrong decision; it’s to remind the firms that it’s not too late to reverse course and join the ranks of the firms resisting Trump’s gambit.