By Kanishka Singh, Mike Scarcella and Andrew Goudsward WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday suspending security clearances for lawyers and other employees at New York law firm Paul,

President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting law firm Paul Weiss' contracts, citing its past hire of an ex-prosecutor critical of Trump.

President Trump escalated his fight with the legal industry by issuing an executive order aimed at Paul Weiss, one of the country’s top law firms.

President Donald Trump on Friday targeted Paul Weiss in his latest attack on a top law firm over its work in court and ties to his opponents.

Trump targeted a second major US law firm Friday, two days after a federal judge put on hold an executive order intended to destroy the firm that represented Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election campaign.

President Trump has suspended security clearances for individuals at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, marking the latest executive action targeting a large law firm.

Experts have warned that the president’s efforts threaten the ability of lawyers to do their jobs and private citizens to obtain legal counsel.

Trump took apart seven federal agencies, terminated 18 Biden executive actions, and suspended the security clearances of Weiss and Mark Pomerantz.

The expanded attack on major firms comes just days after a judge ruled that a similar order was unconstitutional.

For the third time in four weeks, President Trump has pulled the security clearances for a high-powered law firm and restricted their employees from entering government buildings and receiving federal contracts.