*

Proclamation restricts law firm's government access,

contracts

*

Trump has issued orders against four other major firms

*

Critics warn Trump's moves chill lawyers' work for clients

(Adds WilmerHale comment in paragraph 5, details and background

throughout)

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) -

U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on

Thursday targeting law firm WilmerHale, the fifth time the

president has taken aim at a major firm with connections to his

legal or political adversaries.

The proclamation cited WilmerHale's ties to Robert

Mueller, the former U.S. special counsel who investigated

Russian contacts with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Like three earlier executive orders issued by Trump

against other firms, the proclamation suspended security

clearances held by lawyers at WilmerHale, restricted their

access to government officials and ordered a review meant to

terminate federal contracts held by the firm's clients.

A WilmerHale spokesperson said Trump's proclamation was

unlawful and resembled an earlier executive order "that has been

enjoined by a federal judge."

Mueller retired from the firm in 2021 after a "long,

distinguished career in public service," the spokesperson said.

Mueller could not immediately be reached for comment.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request

for comment.

A federal judge on March 12

temporarily blocked

most of a similar executive order Trump issued against

Perkins Coie, finding it likely violated the U.S. Constitution.

The president agreed to drop his executive order against

Wall Street law firm Paul Weiss after it

agreed last week

to donate the equivalent of $40 million in free legal work

to administration causes, and to commit to nonpartisanship and

merit-based hiring.

An earlier, narrower order by Trump suspended security

clearances for some lawyers at law firm Covington & Burling.

Trump's moves against law firms have drawn

growing condemnation

from lawyers and legal experts. A group of 20 Democratic

state attorneys general and the American Bar Association each

warned on Wednesday that Trump's efforts posed dangers to the

U.S. legal system by chilling lawyers' freedom to choose their

clients.

WilmerHale, which has a large D.C. office just blocks

from the White House, employs more than 1,100 lawyers and has a

leading U.S. Supreme Court practice. Some of its major clients

include Apple ( AAPL ), Harvard University, Meta, and

Tesla.

The Justice Department

appointed

Mueller early in Trump's first term to probe Russia's

alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and

possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Moscow.

In 2019, Mueller

published a report

that identified links between the Russian government and

Trump's campaign. But Mueller, a former Republican-appointed FBI

director, found there was not enough evidence to establish that

Trump's campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Moscow.