Legal Blog Creates ‘BigLaw Spine Index’ As Growing List of Firms Bend Knee to Trump — Brave Holdouts Are Depressingly Few

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump is merrily collecting BigLaw firms badgered into pledging fealty to him like a middle schooler collecting Pokémon cards, knocking down some of the nation’s most prestigious firms even as some attorneys within those firms attempt to push back.

Sadly for those who are concerned about the long-term viability of the rule of law, the list of firms willing to stand up to the president — despite rosters full of top-ranked attorneys with Ivy League law degrees and billions of dollars in annual revenue — is depressingly short.

Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has issued a series of executive orders targeting by name multiple BigLaw firms that represented prominent Democratic clients like Hillary Clinton, refused to represent him or other pro-MAGA causes, hired former federal prosecutors that investigated him, or worked on the criminal cases he was facing before he won re-election.

The president’s social media posts and executive orders often lambast these firms using language accusing them of being “dishonest” and a “dangerous” risk to national security. The sanctions he has sought to impose include stripping the security clearances of the firms’ attorneys and staff (critically important for certain types of federal legal cases), terminating contracts the firms had with federal agencies, barring the firms’ employees from federal buildings (again, a major obstacle for the lawyers to represent their clients), demanding firms abolish diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs, and threatening additional civil and criminal investigations against the firms.

A growing list of those firms have caved, like Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps last month, offering swift compliance with Trump’s decrees and millions of dollars of pro bono legal work to appease the president.

But a handful are digging in their heels and refusing to yield, even filing lawsuits to defend their rights. Thus far, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and Wilmer Hale have had some initial success in court, being awarded temporary injunctive relief pausing the brute force of Trump’s executive orders against them. Both Democrat and Republican-appointed judges have ruled against the Trump administration on these issues, finding the executive orders to be “likely unconstitutional.”

This week brought another round of law firms in Trump’s crosshairs, including Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP, which did not want then-partner Todd Blanche to take on Trump as a client during his criminal investigations, prompting Blanche to leave the firm.

As The New York Times reported, Blanche’s former firm Cadwalader was contacted by one of the president’s advisers “to suggest that it sign a deal in which it would offer tens of millions of dollars in pro bono legal services to causes that the Trump administration supports.” While the firm “was not explicitly threatened with an executive order, people briefed on the matter said, the implicit message encouraging a deal was clear: Sign, or face the possibility of an executive order that, however legally dubious, could nonetheless hobble the firm’s business.”

It’s gotten to the point that Above the Law has compiled a “BigLaw Spine Index” categorizing how the various law firms across the U.S. were responding to Trump’s assaults on their legal practices and First Amendment rights.

This color-coded chart of the firms on the Am Law 200 includes “each firm’s gross revenue and profits per equity partner, which we think highlights the greed involved.” The list is overwhelmingly yellow, indicating “silence,” with a growing number in red, for “capitulation.”

The standout law firms in green have taken affirmative steps like filing lawsuits, representing other targeted firms, or signing amicus briefs — undoubtedly putting themselves at risk to be next on the list if Trump hasn’t attacked them already.

That’s what makes Friday’s open letter sent to the firm leadership at Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP (A&O Shearman), a massive international firm with over 4,000 attorneys formed after a merger in 2024, all the more remarkable. As Above the Law reported, the letter had the support of “over 500 A&O Shearman associates, counsel, and staff,” including over 200 who signed by name.

The text of the letter, according to Above the Law, is as follows:

To the Leadership of Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP,

Recent reporting suggests that A&O Shearman may be nearing an agreement with the Trump Administration similar to those entered into by other law firms in recent weeks.

We, the undersigned attorneys and members of staff, want to make it clear that we strongly oppose A&O Shearman entering into any such agreement with the Trump Administration.

We appreciate that A&O Shearman and other law firms are facing an unprecedented threat, and that there are no risk-free options in these circumstances. However, we firmly believe that agreements of this nature contribute to the degradation of the rule of law in the United States. Likewise, we firmly believe that a similar agreement would be detrimental to A&O Shearman’s business interests both in the United States and internationally, in terms of client relationships, employee retention, recruitment, and the firm’s US and global reputation, both now and in the future.

Sincerely,

It was all for naught, as A&O Shearman was included among Trump’s latest collection of trophies he brandished in a series of Friday afternoon Truth Social posts, along with Cadwalader, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. According to Trump’s posts, Cadwalader agreed to provide at least $100 million of pro bono services to Trump-approved causes and the other firms agreed to provide $125 million each.

This latest round of deals were “far worse than the already bad deals” other BigLaw firms made with the president, noted Above the Law, because the terms included not just eye-popping figures for the protection payola masquerading as pro bono work, but a term that extended “during the Trump administration and beyond.”

“These firms will now be under Trump’s control throughout his presidency ‘and beyond’ his stay in the White House. Bending a knee to a president who believes he’s become a king will do nothing good for these firms,” wrote Above the Law’s Staci Zaretsky.

Indeed.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.