{"id":119643,"date":"2025-05-19T17:00:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T01:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/19\/not-content-to-sell-out-their-own-principles-kirkland-wanted-all-of-biglaw-to-sell-out\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T17:00:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T01:00:33","slug":"not-content-to-sell-out-their-own-principles-kirkland-wanted-all-of-biglaw-to-sell-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/19\/not-content-to-sell-out-their-own-principles-kirkland-wanted-all-of-biglaw-to-sell-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Content To Sell Out Their Own Principles, Kirkland Wanted All Of Biglaw To Sell Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above the Law has extensively covered the capitulation of nine yellow-bellied Biglaw firms<\/a> (Paul Weiss, Skadden, Willkie Farr, Milbank, Cadwalader, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher, and A&O Shearman) to the demands of Donald Trump who has been busy bullying the legal profession and, in the process, amassed a nearly $1 billion war chest<\/a> of pro bono payola<\/a>. Both sides of the political spectrum<\/a> see it as a black eye on the profession<\/a> \u2014 a move that sells out<\/a> the very principle of the rule of law.<\/a> But if it were up to Kirkland & Ellis \u2014 the world\u2019s richest law firm \u2014 a lot more than nine firms would have already bent the knee to Trump.<\/p>\n

According to reporting by<\/a> Law.com, Kirkland<\/a> was behind an effort to coordinate a \u201ccritical mass\u201d of Biglaw firms to cave to Trump, leaning on the list of 20 firms<\/a> the EEOC was focused on in their war against DEI. Like they were the ringleader of a lily-livered circus, Kirkland reportedly recruited Latham, Simpson, and later A&O Shearman, like a twisted MLM, to join in the Trump deals. The coordinated plan had the effect of deflecting and sharing the outrage over the bargain between the firms that all capitulated on the same day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

The world\u2019s highest-grossing law firm approached both Latham & Watkins and Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett as tentpoles for the group action, sources added. A&O Shearman was asked to join the grouping later in the process, sources said, and was less of a driver in getting a deal cut as well as recruiting other firms, even though the firm signed on.<\/p>\n

Led by Kirkland\u2019s efforts, the initial grouping of three firms began outreach to several other firms on the EEOC probe of 20 law firms. It is unclear how many were asked to join the grouping, though sources have confirmed that several on the list were contacted. Ultimately, several other firms rejected the offer, and President Donald Trump on April 11 announced a\u00a0$500 million pro bono deal<\/u><\/a>\u00a0with the four firms, with each contributing $125 million in pro bono.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is some shady BS. Even though the coordination between competitors would likely be protected from antitrust scrutiny under the Noerr-Pennington<\/em>\u00a0line of cases as related to lobbying and petitioning government for redress, it still gives the ick. It\u2019s like Kirkland was trying to spread out the blame so they wouldn\u2019t catch any flack over their capitulation. But there have been consequences, with many clients<\/a>\u00a0see the deals as a weakness\u00a0and, increasingly<\/a>, are\u00a0pulling work away<\/a>\u00a0from the firms that have demonstrated they are unwilling to take a legal fight to the Trump administration. Plus, there\u2019s a bit of an exodus of\u00a0attorneys<\/a>\u00a0leaving<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0firms that caved<\/a>\u00a0to Trump, hoping to get the stink of capitulation\u00a0off their resumes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though Kirkland is already trying to turn around the run of bad news for capitulating firms. Kirkland Chair Jon Ballis was recently spotted <\/a>on Trump\u2019s Saudi Arabia trip trying to secure legal work stemming from the $1 trillion Saudi investment fund. I guess when the bottom line trumps<\/a> the rule of law, there are always opportunities to secure your bag.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post Not Content To Sell Out Their Own Principles, Kirkland Wanted All Of Biglaw To Sell Out<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Above the Law has extensively covered the capitulation of nine yellow-bellied Biglaw firms<\/a> (Paul Weiss, Skadden, Willkie Farr, Milbank, Cadwalader, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher, and A&O Shearman) to the demands of Donald Trump who has been busy bullying the legal profession and, in the process, amassed a nearly $1 billion war chest<\/a> of pro bono payola<\/a>. Both sides of the political spectrum<\/a> see it as a black eye on the profession<\/a> \u2014 a move that sells out<\/a> the very principle of the rule of law.<\/a> But if it were up to Kirkland & Ellis \u2014 the world\u2019s richest law firm \u2014 a lot more than nine firms would have already bent the knee to Trump.<\/p>\n

According to reporting by<\/a> Law.com, Kirkland<\/a> was behind an effort to coordinate a \u201ccritical mass\u201d of Biglaw firms to cave to Trump, leaning on the list of 20 firms<\/a> the EEOC was focused on in their war against DEI. Like they were the ringleader of a lily-livered circus, Kirkland reportedly recruited Latham, Simpson, and later A&O Shearman, like a twisted MLM, to join in the Trump deals. The coordinated plan had the effect of deflecting and sharing the outrage over the bargain between the firms that all capitulated on the same day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

The world\u2019s highest-grossing law firm approached both Latham & Watkins and Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett as tentpoles for the group action, sources added. A&O Shearman was asked to join the grouping later in the process, sources said, and was less of a driver in getting a deal cut as well as recruiting other firms, even though the firm signed on.<\/p>\n

Led by Kirkland\u2019s efforts, the initial grouping of three firms began outreach to several other firms on the EEOC probe of 20 law firms. It is unclear how many were asked to join the grouping, though sources have confirmed that several on the list were contacted. Ultimately, several other firms rejected the offer, and President Donald Trump on April 11 announced a\u00a0$500 million pro bono deal<\/u><\/a>\u00a0with the four firms, with each contributing $125 million in pro bono.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is some shady BS. Even though the coordination between competitors would likely be protected from antitrust scrutiny under the Noerr-Pennington<\/em>\u00a0line of cases as related to lobbying and petitioning government for redress, it still gives the ick. It\u2019s like Kirkland was trying to spread out the blame so they wouldn\u2019t catch any flack over their capitulation. But there have been consequences, with many clients<\/a>\u00a0see the deals as a weakness\u00a0and, increasingly<\/a>, are\u00a0pulling work away<\/a>\u00a0from the firms that have demonstrated they are unwilling to take a legal fight to the Trump administration. Plus, there\u2019s a bit of an exodus of\u00a0attorneys<\/a>\u00a0leaving<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0firms that caved<\/a>\u00a0to Trump, hoping to get the stink of capitulation\u00a0off their resumes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though Kirkland is already trying to turn around the run of bad news for capitulating firms. Kirkland Chair Jon Ballis was recently spotted <\/a>on Trump\u2019s Saudi Arabia trip trying to secure legal work stemming from the $1 trillion Saudi investment fund. I guess when the bottom line trumps<\/a> the rule of law, there are always opportunities to secure your bag.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above the Law has extensively covered the capitulation of nine yellow-bellied Biglaw firms (Paul Weiss, Skadden, Willkie Farr, Milbank, Cadwalader, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher, and A&O Shearman) to the demands of Donald Trump who has been busy bullying the legal profession and, in the process, amassed a nearly $1 billion war […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":119644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-vkNqjo.jpeg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}