But what work, exactly<\/a>, are the firms doing to satisfy the terms of their deals? We\u2019ve\u00a0since learned<\/a>\u00a0that several of the capitulating firms have taken on a role papering up work for the Commerce Department\u00a0in a questionably legal arrangement<\/a>. But how this work squares with the deals the firms signed with Trump remains unclear. <\/p>\n Earlier today, nonprofit watchdog American Oversight filed a lawsuit (available below) seeking compliance with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about the deals. As the complaint notes, \u201cThough the scope of the services included in these agreements is unclear, President Trump has suggested these law firms may be working pro bono for the federal government on issues including \u2018trade deals, immigration enforcement, and . . . defending police officers who are under investigation for misconduct.’\u201d<\/p>\n As the complaint says, American Oversight has filed repeated FOIA requests \u2014 to both the Commerce Department and DOJ \u2014 related to the Biglaw deals, and got bupkus for their efforts. The FOIA requests seek communications, agreements, ethics waivers, billing records, and legal analyses concerning the firms\u2019 work, including any pro bono or discounted arrangements.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen elite law firms decide it\u2019s safer to appease political power than uphold the rule of law, the public deserves to know what was bargained away. Lawyers swear an oath to serve the public and the Constitution, not abandon principle when it threatens their bottom line. Yet these firms capitulated, engaging in anticipatory obedience to secure protection and profit,\u201d\u00a0said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight.\u00a0\u201cThey entered sweeping, secretive agreements with the very administration targeting them, and their work now advances the president\u2019s political agenda at the public\u2019s expense. That is unacceptable. These records must be released so the American people can see the terms of these deals and hold institutions accountable when they choose compliance over principle. And accountability must follow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Whatever is turned up in these FOIA requests will certainly be interesting for legal industry watchers, and pretty much anyone who is deeply concerned about the rule of law in 2025.<\/p>\n The post New Lawsuit Seeks To Find Out What Exactly Is Up With Capitulating Biglaw Firms\u2019 Deals With Trump<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the most important legal stories of this year \u2014 hell, probably this decade \u2014 is the craven capitulation of nine major Biglaw firms to Donald Trump.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll recall, early in his second term, Trump launched a\u00a0war on Biglaw<\/a>\u00a0through\u00a0unconstitutional Executive Orders<\/a>\u00a0designed\u00a0to break major law firms<\/a>\u00a0unless they\u00a0bent the knee<\/a>.\u00a0In the\u00a0face of financial harm,<\/a>\u00a0nine major firms\u00a0(Paul Weiss, Skadden, Kirkland, Latham, Cadwalader, Willkie Farr, Simpson Thacher, Milbank, and A&O Shearman) sought<\/a>\u00a0Trump\u2019s seal of approval, providing millions in pro bono payola, that is, free legal services on behalf of\u00a0conservative clients or approved causes<\/a>\u00a0in order to avoid Trumpian retribution.\u00a0Those deals keep getting worse<\/a>, as the consequences<\/a> hit home: there\u2019ve been\u00a0congressional investigations<\/a>,\u00a0client concerns<\/a>, and there\u2019ve been bunches lawyers\u00a0bailing<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0the firms<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0distance themselves<\/a>\u00a0from the craven capitulation.<\/p>\n But what work, exactly<\/a>, are the firms doing to satisfy the terms of their deals? We\u2019ve\u00a0since learned<\/a>\u00a0that several of the capitulating firms have taken on a role papering up work for the Commerce Department\u00a0in a questionably legal arrangement<\/a>. But how this work squares with the deals the firms signed with Trump remains unclear. <\/p>\n Earlier today, nonprofit watchdog American Oversight filed a lawsuit (available below) seeking compliance with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about the deals. As the complaint notes, \u201cThough the scope of the services included in these agreements is unclear, President Trump has suggested these law firms may be working pro bono for the federal government on issues including \u2018trade deals, immigration enforcement, and . . . defending police officers who are under investigation for misconduct.’\u201d<\/p>\n As the complaint says, American Oversight has filed repeated FOIA requests \u2014 to both the Commerce Department and DOJ \u2014 related to the Biglaw deals, and got bupkus for their efforts. The FOIA requests seek communications, agreements, ethics waivers, billing records, and legal analyses concerning the firms\u2019 work, including any pro bono or discounted arrangements.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen elite law firms decide it\u2019s safer to appease political power than uphold the rule of law, the public deserves to know what was bargained away. Lawyers swear an oath to serve the public and the Constitution, not abandon principle when it threatens their bottom line. Yet these firms capitulated, engaging in anticipatory obedience to secure protection and profit,\u201d\u00a0said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight.\u00a0\u201cThey entered sweeping, secretive agreements with the very administration targeting them, and their work now advances the president\u2019s political agenda at the public\u2019s expense. That is unacceptable. These records must be released so the American people can see the terms of these deals and hold institutions accountable when they choose compliance over principle. And accountability must follow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Whatever is turned up in these FOIA requests will certainly be interesting for legal industry watchers, and pretty much anyone who is deeply concerned about the rule of law in 2025.<\/p>\n The post New Lawsuit Seeks To Find Out What Exactly Is Up With Capitulating Biglaw Firms\u2019 Deals With Trump<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the most important legal stories of this year \u2014 hell, probably this decade \u2014 is the craven capitulation of nine major Biglaw firms to Donald Trump. You\u2019ll recall, early in his second term, Trump launched a\u00a0war on Biglaw\u00a0through\u00a0unconstitutional Executive Orders\u00a0designed\u00a0to break major law firms\u00a0unless they\u00a0bent the knee.\u00a0In the\u00a0face of financial harm,\u00a0nine major firms\u00a0(Paul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":138797,"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-138796","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\/12\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-yQq8YP.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138796","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=138796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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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
\nKathryn 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