{"id":147016,"date":"2026-03-24T15:01:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T23:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/24\/the-iran-war-is-killing-people-but-how-has-it-impacted-biglaws-billables\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T15:01:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T23:01:36","slug":"the-iran-war-is-killing-people-but-how-has-it-impacted-biglaws-billables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/24\/the-iran-war-is-killing-people-but-how-has-it-impacted-biglaws-billables\/","title":{"rendered":"The Iran War Is Killing People, But How Has It Impacted Biglaw\u2019s Billables?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re subscribed to the various legal industry newsletters, you might have noticed that this morning\u2019s installment of the American Lawyer Morning Update shared a couple of stories about the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. Or, perhaps more accurately, a couple of stories about Biglaw partners fretting about making their next yacht payment because of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Specifically, here\u2019s a screencap from the newsletter that went out this morning:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe Biggest Disruption Since Covid for Energy Lawyers<\/a>\u201d and \u201cHow Much Is the US and Israel\u2019s War on Iran Affecting M&A?<\/a>\u201d On the one hand, you have to appreciate a trade publication for its commitment to the bit. On the other hand\u2026.<\/p>\n

Kicking off a shooting war in the Middle East undeniably impacts lawyers. That\u2019s newsworthy within the industry. We covered it here at Above the Law, for example discussing the evacuation plans Biglaw firms activated<\/a> (quoting the American Lawyer\u2019s earlier take on the same subject even!) when missiles started flying across the Middle East. With Biglaw colleagues sheltering in place in Dubai while drones target nearby buildings, that\u2019s a legal industry story with obvious human stakes.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s certainly an economic story to be had here. The war has upended a region with major energy significance. But there\u2019s a subtle distinction between framing a headline around the war being \u201ca new challenge for global energy\u201d and \u201ca big disruption for energy lawyers.\u201d The former sounds like another economic dimension to a global news story and the latter sounds like it\u2019s an inconvenience for lawyers.<\/p>\n

Pairing it with an image of black smoke rising from an explosion gives real, \u201cWon\u2019t Someone PLEASE Think Of The Billables?!?\u201d energy. Just show a generic oil tanker if you\u2019re trying to tell an energy market story.<\/p>\n

The Deal Watch article isn\u2019t even really about Iran. It opens by noting that M&A deal volume for 2026 is 20% below 2025 levels \u2014 and, you know, thoughts and prayers for the deal lawyers \u2014 and then cites recent reports from the financial industry disputing how much to blame the war for M&A woes. Then the bulk of the article is a routine rundown of big deals of the week. The paired image of a destroyed apartment building doesn\u2019t seem a natural match with the subject of deal flow.<\/p>\n

That said, maybe I\u2019m crazy, but I kind of appreciate this specific story preview on a subversive level. Unlike the first headline\u2019s \u201cIran War,\u201d this title assigns agency to the U.S. and Israel for initiating the conflict. Hell, I\u2019m using \u201cIran War\u201d in my headline because \u201cUS and Israel\u2019s War on Iran\u201d is a whole lot of extra words \u2014 so that\u2019s a choice. Rather than using a generic image of smoke or showing a facility damaged by Iranian drones, the picture shows a destroyed residential building in Iran, doubling down on assigning responsibility to Trump and Netanyahu for kicking off the war and triggering the ensuing fallout. There might be a lot more going on here than it seems at first glance.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s a delicate balance to writing a trade story about a life and death event. Create some distance between the human cost and the abstract legal market impacts. Lawyers will still find their way to the story because no one is better at thinking everything is really about them than lawyers \u2014 the news doesn\u2019t need to give them any help.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Biglaw Drafts Evacuation Plans As Missiles Fly In The Middle East<\/a><\/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 The Iran War Is Killing People, But How Has It Impacted Biglaw\u2019s Billables?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re subscribed to the various legal industry newsletters, you might have noticed that this morning\u2019s installment of the American Lawyer Morning Update shared a couple of stories about the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. Or, perhaps more accurately, a couple of stories about Biglaw partners fretting about making their next yacht payment because of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Specifically, here\u2019s a screencap from the newsletter that went out this morning:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe Biggest Disruption Since Covid for Energy Lawyers<\/a>\u201d and \u201cHow Much Is the US and Israel\u2019s War on Iran Affecting M&A?<\/a>\u201d On the one hand, you have to appreciate a trade publication for its commitment to the bit. On the other hand\u2026.<\/p>\n

Kicking off a shooting war in the Middle East undeniably impacts lawyers. That\u2019s newsworthy within the industry. We covered it here at Above the Law, for example discussing the evacuation plans Biglaw firms activated<\/a> (quoting the American Lawyer\u2019s earlier take on the same subject even!) when missiles started flying across the Middle East. With Biglaw colleagues sheltering in place in Dubai while drones target nearby buildings, that\u2019s a legal industry story with obvious human stakes.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s certainly an economic story to be had here. The war has upended a region with major energy significance. But there\u2019s a subtle distinction between framing a headline around the war being \u201ca new challenge for global energy\u201d and \u201ca big disruption for energy lawyers.\u201d The former sounds like another economic dimension to a global news story and the latter sounds like it\u2019s an inconvenience for lawyers.<\/p>\n

Pairing it with an image of black smoke rising from an explosion gives real, \u201cWon\u2019t Someone PLEASE Think Of The Billables?!?\u201d energy. Just show a generic oil tanker if you\u2019re trying to tell an energy market story.<\/p>\n

The Deal Watch article isn\u2019t even really about Iran. It opens by noting that M&A deal volume for 2026 is 20% below 2025 levels \u2014 and, you know, thoughts and prayers for the deal lawyers \u2014 and then cites recent reports from the financial industry disputing how much to blame the war for M&A woes. Then the bulk of the article is a routine rundown of big deals of the week. The paired image of a destroyed apartment building doesn\u2019t seem a natural match with the subject of deal flow.<\/p>\n

That said, maybe I\u2019m crazy, but I kind of appreciate this specific story preview on a subversive level. Unlike the first headline\u2019s \u201cIran War,\u201d this title assigns agency to the U.S. and Israel for initiating the conflict. Hell, I\u2019m using \u201cIran War\u201d in my headline because \u201cUS and Israel\u2019s War on Iran\u201d is a whole lot of extra words \u2014 so that\u2019s a choice. Rather than using a generic image of smoke or showing a facility damaged by Iranian drones, the picture shows a destroyed residential building in Iran, doubling down on assigning responsibility to Trump and Netanyahu for kicking off the war and triggering the ensuing fallout. There might be a lot more going on here than it seems at first glance.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s a delicate balance to writing a trade story about a life and death event. Create some distance between the human cost and the abstract legal market impacts. Lawyers will still find their way to the story because no one is better at thinking everything is really about them than lawyers \u2014 the news doesn\u2019t need to give them any help.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Biglaw Drafts Evacuation Plans As Missiles Fly In The Middle East<\/a><\/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 The Iran War Is Killing People, But How Has It Impacted Biglaw\u2019s Billables?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re subscribed to the various legal industry newsletters, you might have noticed that this morning\u2019s installment of the American Lawyer Morning Update shared a couple of stories about the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. Or, perhaps more accurately, a couple of stories about Biglaw partners fretting about making their next yacht payment because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":147017,"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-147016","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\/2026\/03\/Headshot-300x200-4dqKUY.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147016","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=147016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}