Biglaw firms keep folding under White House pressure, thinking that they’re just committing millions in pro bono payola to worthwhile veteran issues. Meanwhile, Donald Trump — with a characteristic lack of subtlety — publicly describes these deals as blank checks for free legal work on anything he dreams up — up to and including personal legal work based on his most recent statement. It’s the real life version of Lando’s deal with Darth Vader, except Lando didn’t have an army of fancy law degrees that should help a global law firm recognize when it’s getting conned.
A&O Shearman is reportedly next on the Quisling block, and the rank-and-file are having none of it.
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Formed in last year’s Voltron merger of Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling, A&O Shearman was probably overdue for a good bonding moment. Turns out, uniting behind the fear that firm leadership might sell off the firm’s credibility to authoritarian bullying can really bring people together!
An open letter prepared last night and sent to leadership moments ago, already has over 500 A&O Shearman associates, counsel, and staff raised their hands to say, “Maybe don’t actively sell our firm to authoritarians?” A&O Shearman has around 650 attorneys in the United States, underscoring the profound unpopularity of the rumored capitulation.
Honestly, it’s one thing to have signed up early — Paul Weiss and Skadden at least had the luxury of (an admittedly weaksauce) plausible deniability. Back then, leadership could pretend they were just agreeing to redirect a few volunteer hours to less-woke causes in exchange for getting the White House off their backs. After the White House publicly bragged that these firms “bent the knee” and Trump announced that he will “assign” the firms to apply this pro bono work to everything from coal leasing to tariff enforcement, there’s no more illusion. The deal isn’t for traditional pro bono work, it’s a commitment to do otherwise billable work for Trump for free like he’s turning in a coupon for a free sandwich.
Everyone at the time knew the deal was like buying the Brooklyn Bridge from a hustler on Canal Street, but to make a deal NOW — informed by all that happened since — is more like gambling your life savings against the Harlem Globetrotters.
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A bet these firms will probably also do after Trump decries the team as woke DEI ideology run amok.
It’s a heartfelt plea to firm leadership not to follow in the ignoble footsteps of Paul, Weiss, Latham, Kirkland, Simpson Thacher, Willkie, and others who’ve reportedly signed “cooperation agreements” with the Trump administration in a desperate bid to avoid the business equivalent of carbonite.
Signed by over 200 individuals by name (and many more anonymously for obvious reasons), the A&O letter lays out the obvious: these deals are bad for democracy, bad for the firm’s long-term prospects, and frankly just embarrassing.
“We firmly believe that agreements of this nature contribute to the degradation of the rule of law in the United States,” the letter reads. “Likewise, we firmly believe that a similar agreement would be detrimental to A&O Shearman’s business interests both in the United States and internationally, in terms of client relationships, employee retention, recruitment, and the firm’s US and global reputation, both now and in the future.”
The open letter’s signatories are asking leadership to take a different path. It’s unclear if that message will break through a Biglaw leadership fog willing to walk off a cliff as long as its peers did so first. But at least someone in the firm is still interested in law as a profession and not just a brand extension.
Some firms — Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey — told the administration to shove their deals from jump. But if A&O Shearman leadership listens to its team, the firm might earn itself a new reputation: the first Biglaw giant to look the Empire in the eye and say, “On second thought, we’re not that gullible.”
There’s still time to not be the punchline.
(Full letter text provided on the next page…)
Earlier: Biglaw Is Under Attack. Here’s What The Firms Are Doing About It.
‘Pray I Don’t Alter It Any Further’: What Darth Vader Should Teach Law Firms About Settling With Trump
3 More Major Biglaw Firms Are Looking To Bow To Trump
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.