{"id":127513,"date":"2025-07-21T11:37:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/07\/21\/another-biglaw-firm-that-capitulated-to-donald-trump-loses-a-litigation-partner-to-a-firm-that-decidedly-did-not\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T11:37:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:37:02","slug":"another-biglaw-firm-that-capitulated-to-donald-trump-loses-a-litigation-partner-to-a-firm-that-decidedly-did-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/07\/21\/another-biglaw-firm-that-capitulated-to-donald-trump-loses-a-litigation-partner-to-a-firm-that-decidedly-did-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Biglaw Firm That Capitulated To Donald Trump Loses A Litigation Partner To A Firm That Decidedly Did *Not*"},"content":{"rendered":"

A&O Shearman\u2019s securities litigation practice is a little lighter. As of today, New York-based partner Agn\u00e8s Dunogu\u00e9 has moved firms, opting to continue her career at Freshfields.<\/p>\n

Freshfields\u2019 co-head of securities and shareholder litigation Mary Eaton said of the move, \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege of litigating in the same securities space as Agn\u00e8s for a number of years. She will be a key driver in the next phase of the team\u2019s growth in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bloomberg Law,<\/a> who broke the story of the lateral move, couches it in terms of the battle between U.K.-based firms (both Freshfields and A&O originated across the pond):<\/p>\n

\n

The move is the latest instance of the multinational law firms with roots in the UK fighting for top talent in key US markets. UK-founded Freshfields has been fighting for US dominance by recruiting from competitors,\u00a0hiring\u00a0Latham & Watkins M&A partner Matthew Goulding to launch an office in Boston earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Freshfields\u2019 leaders are looking to Dunogu\u00e9, who has served as outside counsel to Uber Technologies Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., to counsel the firm\u2019s public company and financial clients on how to navigate disputes with stockholders.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which is certainly fair analysis. But there\u2019s also a flood<\/a> of seasoned litigators<\/a> running from the Biglaw firms that capitulated<\/a> to Donald Trump, inking deals that cumulatively promised $940 million in a pro bono payola war chest to conservative clients and causes, rather than stand against the president\u2019s bullying<\/a> and defend the rule of law. And, wouldn\u2019t you know it, A&O Shearman is one of the infamous nine <\/a>Biglaw firms that kissed Trump\u2019s ring (over strenuous objection<\/a> from the rank-and-file attorneys at the firm). While Freshfields signed the amicus brief<\/a> supporting fellow Biglaw firm Perkins Coie in their fight against Trump.<\/p>\n

Litigators at the capitulating firms have been impacted more than their corporate brethren<\/a> \u2014 after all, if a firm is unwilling to defend itself in court (with a slam dunk of a case<\/a>, fwiw) against the government, well, what faith do clients have<\/a> that those firms can and will vigorously defend them?<\/p>\n

But lateraling partners are often discreet when making their moves, and rarely spill the deets on what\u2019s *really* behind the departure. And Dunogu\u00e9\u2019s statement on the move is expectedly tame, \u201cThe opportunity to add my expertise and experience into a successful, and still growing, practice makes it an exciting place to join and make an impact.\u201d Still, Dunogu\u00e9 is part of a litigation partner trend<\/a> \u2014 one we don\u2019t expect will end any time soon.<\/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

The post Another Biglaw Firm That Capitulated To Donald Trump Loses A Litigation Partner To A Firm That Decidedly Did *Not*<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

A&O Shearman\u2019s securities litigation practice is a little lighter. As of today, New York-based partner Agn\u00e8s Dunogu\u00e9 has moved firms, opting to continue her career at Freshfields.<\/p>\n

Freshfields\u2019 co-head of securities and shareholder litigation Mary Eaton said of the move, \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege of litigating in the same securities space as Agn\u00e8s for a number of years. She will be a key driver in the next phase of the team\u2019s growth in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bloomberg Law,<\/a> who broke the story of the lateral move, couches it in terms of the battle between U.K.-based firms (both Freshfields and A&O originated across the pond):<\/p>\n

\n

The move is the latest instance of the multinational law firms with roots in the UK fighting for top talent in key US markets. UK-founded Freshfields has been fighting for US dominance by recruiting from competitors,\u00a0hiring\u00a0Latham & Watkins M&A partner Matthew Goulding to launch an office in Boston earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Freshfields\u2019 leaders are looking to Dunogu\u00e9, who has served as outside counsel to Uber Technologies Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., to counsel the firm\u2019s public company and financial clients on how to navigate disputes with stockholders.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which is certainly fair analysis. But there\u2019s also a flood<\/a> of seasoned litigators<\/a> running from the Biglaw firms that capitulated<\/a> to Donald Trump, inking deals that cumulatively promised $940 million in a pro bono payola war chest to conservative clients and causes, rather than stand against the president\u2019s bullying<\/a> and defend the rule of law. And, wouldn\u2019t you know it, A&O Shearman is one of the infamous nine <\/a>Biglaw firms that kissed Trump\u2019s ring (over strenuous objection<\/a> from the rank-and-file attorneys at the firm). While Freshfields signed the amicus brief<\/a> supporting fellow Biglaw firm Perkins Coie in their fight against Trump.<\/p>\n

Litigators at the capitulating firms have been impacted more than their corporate brethren<\/a> \u2014 after all, if a firm is unwilling to defend itself in court (with a slam dunk of a case<\/a>, fwiw) against the government, well, what faith do clients have<\/a> that those firms can and will vigorously defend them?<\/p>\n

But lateraling partners are often discreet when making their moves, and rarely spill the deets on what\u2019s *really* behind the departure. And Dunogu\u00e9\u2019s statement on the move is expectedly tame, \u201cThe opportunity to add my expertise and experience into a successful, and still growing, practice makes it an exciting place to join and make an impact.\u201d Still, Dunogu\u00e9 is part of a litigation partner trend<\/a> \u2014 one we don\u2019t expect will end any time soon.<\/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":"

A&O Shearman\u2019s securities litigation practice is a little lighter. As of today, New York-based partner Agn\u00e8s Dunogu\u00e9 has moved firms, opting to continue her career at Freshfields. Freshfields\u2019 co-head of securities and shareholder litigation Mary Eaton said of the move, \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege of litigating in the same securities space as Agn\u00e8s for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":127514,"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-127513","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\/07\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-oR69Ve.jpeg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127513","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=127513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}