{"id":119783,"date":"2025-05-20T16:25:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T00:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/20\/orange-shoe-law-firms-what-exactly-should-we-call-biglaw-firms-cutting-deals-with-donald-trump\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T16:25:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T00:25:36","slug":"orange-shoe-law-firms-what-exactly-should-we-call-biglaw-firms-cutting-deals-with-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/20\/orange-shoe-law-firms-what-exactly-should-we-call-biglaw-firms-cutting-deals-with-donald-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange Shoe Law Firms? What Exactly Should We Call Biglaw Firms Cutting Deals With Donald Trump?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019ve called them cowardly<\/a> and collaborators<\/a> and capitulators<\/a> and Trump\u2019s deputies<\/a>. We\u2019ve characterized their actions as surrendering<\/a>, bending the knee<\/a>, and swearing fealty<\/a> to the administration. We\u2019ve branded them the Order of the Obsequious<\/a> and bandied about the Deep Mistake Nine for the nerd crowd. We even tabbed them \u201cyellow-bellied<\/a>\u201d for an 1800s grizzled prospector vibe.<\/p>\n

The individual firms earned some new nicknames too. \u201cPaul Wuss\u201d caught fire on social media (sorry, the proper styling is \u201cPaul, Wuss\u201d), but we heard WillkieFear and Cowardalader too. <\/p>\n

For the purposes of news coverage, we can and do lean on our thesauruses to keep articles from getting bogged down in convention. Spicing new phrases or nicknames into stories helps keep them fresh. But maybe there\u2019s a value in settling on a stable, catchy moniker \u2014 at least for some constituencies.<\/p>\n

Mostly, I\u2019m thinking about law school students. When they start signing up for on-campus interviews \u2014 to the extent they still exist<\/a> \u2014 what\u2019s the best way to describe the new category of law firm willing to shell out some pro bono payola to avoid having to take Donald Trump to court?<\/p>\n

I remember first applying to law firms and being schooled by classmates on \u201cthe tobacco firms\u201d that everyone was supposed to avoid. It proved useful to have a handy, descriptive title to work with as we signed up for interviews. Sometimes we forget that law students aren\u2019t necessarily as steeped in firm news as practitioners and it\u2019s essential to develop quick points of reference that can stick in a student\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

A reader recently pitched the term \u201cOrange Shoe\u201d \u2014 a twist on the traditional \u201cWhite Shoe\u201d classification \u2014 which is absolutely fantastic. But it got me thinking that these naming exercises are more than whimsical rebranding, but a valuable sorting device for young future lawyers trying to wrap their heads around hundreds of firms. They\u2019re talking about White Shoe firms among their friends, why not bootstrap off that classic terminology to capture the essence of prestigious firms willing to sell out rather than stand up for themselves. <\/p>\n

After all, if your goal is to one day uphold the rule of law, maybe don\u2019t start your career at a firm agreeing in principle to lend its talents to support the administration rewriting it with a Sharpie. Even if the firms are furiously trying to downplay the scope of the deals<\/a>\u2026 we\u2019ll see what Trump thinks about that. Anyone old enough to remember the Star Wars movies before they started to suck knows exactly how that negotiation is going to go<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s a useful way to think about these firms beyond cowardice and complicity \u2014 ooh, there\u2019s another good one! Even if a student wanted to give the firm the benefit of the doubt and doesn\u2019t per se begrudge the firms that they HAD to settle with Trump, \u201cOrange Shoe\u201d as opposed to a more value-laden term conveys a firm that thought its business was so intertwined with staying in line with the administration\u2019s interests that it needed to cave. That means a student might not want to hitch their future to that mix of work in any event.<\/p>\n

Or maybe Orange Shoe isn\u2019t the answer. What other names have you heard that you like \u2014 either for the category of nine who explicitly agreed to payola deals, the broader category of firms either surrendering or preemptively throwing DEI and pro bono work under the bus to avoid Trump\u2019s attention, or for individual firms involved. Hit us up at tips@abovethelaw.com (don\u2019t worry, you\u2019re anonymous) and don\u2019t forget to tag us on social media if you see a good name in the wild (abovethelaw.com at Bluesky, atlblog on Twitter). <\/p>\n

If we get enough of these together, maybe we\u2019ll invite some audience participation to decide which one should become the industry standard.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Orange Shoe Law Firms? What Exactly Should We Call Biglaw Firms Cutting Deals With Donald Trump?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019ve called them cowardly<\/a> and collaborators<\/a> and capitulators<\/a> and Trump\u2019s deputies<\/a>. We\u2019ve characterized their actions as surrendering<\/a>, bending the knee<\/a>, and swearing fealty<\/a> to the administration. We\u2019ve branded them the Order of the Obsequious<\/a> and bandied about the Deep Mistake Nine for the nerd crowd. We even tabbed them \u201cyellow-bellied<\/a>\u201d for an 1800s grizzled prospector vibe.<\/p>\n

The individual firms earned some new nicknames too. \u201cPaul Wuss\u201d caught fire on social media (sorry, the proper styling is \u201cPaul, Wuss\u201d), but we heard WillkieFear and Cowardalader too. <\/p>\n

For the purposes of news coverage, we can and do lean on our thesauruses to keep articles from getting bogged down in convention. Spicing new phrases or nicknames into stories helps keep them fresh. But maybe there\u2019s a value in settling on a stable, catchy moniker \u2014 at least for some constituencies.<\/p>\n

Mostly, I\u2019m thinking about law school students. When they start signing up for on-campus interviews \u2014 to the extent they still exist<\/a> \u2014 what\u2019s the best way to describe the new category of law firm willing to shell out some pro bono payola to avoid having to take Donald Trump to court?<\/p>\n

I remember first applying to law firms and being schooled by classmates on \u201cthe tobacco firms\u201d that everyone was supposed to avoid. It proved useful to have a handy, descriptive title to work with as we signed up for interviews. Sometimes we forget that law students aren\u2019t necessarily as steeped in firm news as practitioners and it\u2019s essential to develop quick points of reference that can stick in a student\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

A reader recently pitched the term \u201cOrange Shoe\u201d \u2014 a twist on the traditional \u201cWhite Shoe\u201d classification \u2014 which is absolutely fantastic. But it got me thinking that these naming exercises are more than whimsical rebranding, but a valuable sorting device for young future lawyers trying to wrap their heads around hundreds of firms. They\u2019re talking about White Shoe firms among their friends, why not bootstrap off that classic terminology to capture the essence of prestigious firms willing to sell out rather than stand up for themselves. <\/p>\n

After all, if your goal is to one day uphold the rule of law, maybe don\u2019t start your career at a firm agreeing in principle to lend its talents to support the administration rewriting it with a Sharpie. Even if the firms are furiously trying to downplay the scope of the deals<\/a>\u2026 we\u2019ll see what Trump thinks about that. Anyone old enough to remember the Star Wars movies before they started to suck knows exactly how that negotiation is going to go<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s a useful way to think about these firms beyond cowardice and complicity \u2014 ooh, there\u2019s another good one! Even if a student wanted to give the firm the benefit of the doubt and doesn\u2019t per se begrudge the firms that they HAD to settle with Trump, \u201cOrange Shoe\u201d as opposed to a more value-laden term conveys a firm that thought its business was so intertwined with staying in line with the administration\u2019s interests that it needed to cave. That means a student might not want to hitch their future to that mix of work in any event.<\/p>\n

Or maybe Orange Shoe isn\u2019t the answer. What other names have you heard that you like \u2014 either for the category of nine who explicitly agreed to payola deals, the broader category of firms either surrendering or preemptively throwing DEI and pro bono work under the bus to avoid Trump\u2019s attention, or for individual firms involved. Hit us up at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> (don\u2019t worry, you\u2019re anonymous) and don\u2019t forget to tag us on social media if you see a good name in the wild (abovethelaw.com at Bluesky, atlblog on Twitter). <\/p>\n

If we get enough of these together, maybe we\u2019ll invite some audience participation to decide which one should become the industry standard.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve called them cowardly and collaborators and capitulators and Trump\u2019s deputies. We\u2019ve characterized their actions as surrendering, bending the knee, and swearing fealty to the administration. We\u2019ve branded them the Order of the Obsequious and bandied about the Deep Mistake Nine for the nerd crowd. We even tabbed them \u201cyellow-bellied\u201d for an 1800s grizzled prospector […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"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-119783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119783","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=119783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}