A flurry of directives from President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other members of the Trump administration are creating mayhem for federal agencies and private-sector employers that get federal funding—and they’re creating opportunities for legal chiefs to step up to do what they do best: manage risk and devise creative solutions.
Whether the challenge is complying with Trump’s DEI orders or Musk’s demand that federal employees submit a list of five work accomplishments from a past week, “this is sowing chaos,” said Rob Chesnut, a former general counsel and former chief ethics officer of Airbnb.