Partner at firm that made deal with Trump defects to law firm suing administration

• Another lawyer has defected from a law firm that made a deal with Trump to a firm fighting him.
• Ellen Holloman is leaving Cadwalader, which made a $100 million pro bono pledge.
• She's joining a firm that represents E. Jean Carroll in lawsuits against Trump.

A partner at a law firm that made a deal with President Donald Trump has defected to a boutique law firm that has a history of battling the Trump administration.

Ellen Holloman has joined Kaplan Martin LLP from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, which signed a deal with the White House in April, pledging $100 million in pro bono legal services toward Trump's political priorities.

Roberta Kaplan, a founder at Kaplan Martin LLP, has been a vociferous opponent of Trump in the courtroom.

She represented E. Jean Carroll in two trials against him — one where Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and another where a jury ordered him to pay another $83 million in defamation damages. Trump has appealed both cases.

Trump has criticized Kaplan personally numerous times on social media, and in a deposition for one of the Carroll cases.

The firm is also representing New York City agencies in litigation against the Trump administration over the president's attempts to try to block the city's congestion pricing plan.

In an interview with Business Insider Tuesday morning, Kaplan said she and the firm's cofounder Timothy S. Martin admired Holloman for her values and as someone who fought for her clients.

"While it is true that Ellen is leaving a firm that made a 'deal' with Donald Trump, the truth is that Tim and I have been working with Ellen for the past three years and had been trying to convince her to work with us," Kaplan said.

With her move to Kaplan Martin, Holloman is bringing clients with her, including publicly traded companies and financial institutions, according to a source familiar with the matter. According to the press release, she served as the chair of Cadwalader's pro bono committee; the source confirmed she had the role up until she left the firm.

In a press release, Holloman, who worked at Cadwalader for eight years, said she admired that Kaplan Martin would "never back down from a fight."

"The firm is tireless and laser-focused on excellence and the rule of law, and they never back down from a fight," she said. "After watching them win some of the toughest legal battles in recent years — whether in complex corporate matters, important regulatory issues, or in major civil rights cases — I knew I wanted to be a part of what they are building."

Holloman's move is part of a larger trend where some attorneys and clients have fled from firms that made deals with Trump. As Business Insider previously reported, Paul Weiss — the first to sign a deal —has lost Damian Williams, the former US Attorney in Manhattan, to Jenner & Block, which successfully sued the Trump administration to block an executive order. Another four litigators recently left Paul Weiss to start their own firm.

Cadwalader is the smallest of the nine firms that made deals with Trump, according to data from The American Lawyer.

It employs about 400 attorneys and made $638 million in revenue last year. The next-smallest dealmaking firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which also pledged $100 million in pro bono work, made $1.8 billion in 2024, according to The American Lawyer.

Nicholas Gravante, who leads Cadwalader's global litigation group, and has represented Trump Organization executives in criminal investigations into the company, told Bloomberg Law last month that the firm may be able to fulfill the pledge by helping prosecutors with criminal appeals, but the White House hasn't agreed to his plan.

Cadwalader has had a complicated relationship with Trump. Todd Blanche, who serves as the Deputy Attorney General, quit his job as a partner at the firm to represent Trump personally in several of his criminal cases after the firm's leadership disapproved of taking him on as a client.

A representative for Cadwalader didn't respond to Business Insider's request for comment.