Five Major Law Firms Cut $600 Million Deals With Trump (3)

Five of the world’s largest law firms made deals with Donald Trump to avoid punitive executive orders, as the president has now secured $940 million in free legal services.

Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, A&O Shearman and Cadwalader contributed $600 million through agreements Trump announced Friday on his social media platform.

Trump also agreed to end workplace discrimination investigations the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought against Kirkland, Latham, Simpson, and A&O Shearman on March 17. Cadwalader was not an EEOC probe target.

The firms “have affirmed their strong commitment to ending the weaponization of the justice system and the legal profession,” the White House said in a statement.

With the new agreements Trump has built a stable of nine major law firms he can turn to for pet causes the legal operations must also agree to support—efforts such as aiding veterans, combatting antisemitism and ensuring justice system fairness. Trump’s legal powerhouse represents a remarkable reversal from past years when he and his allies complained of top law firms ignoring their needs.

“The administration has great leverage over these firms,” said Saul Gamoran, president and founder of Gamoran Legal Consulting. “The firms feared they would lose major clients and not be able to make it. They chose the practical decision over other considerations.”

In addition to the five who made agreements Friday, four have previously promised to take on Trump causes—Paul Weiss, Skadden, Milbank, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

Trump started building his legal stable in late February with the first of a string of presidential directives that punished firms for ties to his perceived enemies and work against him.

The actions revoked lawyers’ security clearances, restricted their access to federal buildings, targeted diversity programs and canceled clients’ government contracts. Four firms hit with the orders are fighting Trump in court or have pledged to do so—Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, and Susman Godfrey.

The directives had the opposite effect on the nine firms. Paul Weiss made a deal with Trump after being hit with an order, and the other eight made agreements to avoid becoming targets.

“We made the decision to pursue this solution because at our very core our mission is to protect and support our people and our clients,” Kirkland said in a statement. Simpson Thacher’s leader told the firm in an email viewed by Bloomberg Law that, “Our primary goal was to protect the best interests of the firm.”

Latham, A&O Shearman and Cadwalader didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wall Street Titans

Friday’s deals have four of the firms—Kirkland, Latham, Simpson, and A&O Shearman—devoting $125 million each in pro bono “and other free” legal services. Cadwalader will provide $100 million.

David Neff, a retired partner of Perkins Coie, questioned whether the settling firms can represent a client adverse to the Trump administration without running into conflicts. He said the moves “open up the door” for his former firm and others that are fighting Trump to win that business.

Collectively, the five firms that made deals Friday brought in close to $20 billion in revenue in 2023, according to data reported by the American Lawyer. The country’s largest law firms mostly declined to sign an amicus brief backing Perkins Coie in its suit against Trump.

Kirkland and Latham are the two biggest law firms in the world by revenue, a status they reached by guiding clients’ private equity transactions as well as their mergers and acquisitions. Simpson has also built a reputation on Wall Street, as it represented Microsoft Corp. in its acquisitions of LinkedIn and GitHub.

Cadwalader is Wall Street’s oldest law firm and was once home to deputy attorney general Todd Blanche before he was ousted for taking on Trump as a client. A&O Shearman is the merger product of UK-based legal giant Allen & Overy and Wall Street stalwart Shearman & Sterling.

Trump said this week he wants lawyers at the firms he reached deals with to work on issues related to tariffs, trade and coal mining.

“We signed with many law firms, the ones that we thought were inappropriate, and they’ve all agreed to pay,” Trump said in the Oval Office on April 9, two days before his agreement with the five firms was announced. “We have another five to go.”