I think "the price" is some sort of loss of prestige from it's feeder schools and cultural capital after offering pro bono work to Trump. I know they lost a bunch of their top associates (really good ones too, apparently) but I heard from a friend who goes to Princeton that a lot of the law students didn't even want to article there anymore. I'm assuming it's the same for other big law schools, especially Harvard Law after Trump basically put a target on their backs.

Cadwalader is like the oldest law firm in NYC, the "Taft" in the name comes from President Taft's brother Henry Taft. From what I understand from my friend (and her associates), it's actually crazy that they're merging with another legal entity.