For one of the Big Law firms that made a deal with President Trump, it’s the Truth Social, the whole Truth Social, and nothing but the Truth Social.
In a letter to Congress, A&O Shearman said Trump’s 364-word Truth Social post constituted the “the complete terms” of the deal. The firm pledged $125 million each in free legal work toward Trump’s political priorities, according to the post.
“The complete terms of the Agreement are as set forth in the four numbered paragraphs of the President’s April ll, 2025 social media post,” co-general counsels William E. White and William J.F. Roll, III, wrote in the May 8 letter.
Until A&O Shearman’s letter, it has not been clear whether any law firm had a written-out agreement spelling out the deal’s terms. A Justice Department lawyer, in litigation related to Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms that didn’t strike deals with Trump, has said in court that he didn’t know whether any such agreements exist.
The deals between the law firms and the White House, each of which Trump announced on his social media platform, still have several unresolved questions.
Do they have any enforcement mechanisms? How much time do the law firms have to fulfill their pledges? Who would decide whether a particular case counted toward the pro bono hours? Which “outside counsel” would the firms be required to retain to advise on employment practices, as the agreements require? And do the deals actually constrain Trump from issuing an executive order targeting the firms?
In the letter to Congress, A&O Shearman said that an underlying agreement that would spell out these details does not exist. It also resolved separate inquiries from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where the Trump-appointed acting chairman had asked 20 Big Law firms about their diversity initiatives.
“Our Firm has no other agreements other than the EEOC settlement agreement,” A&O Shearman’s letter said. “Neither the Agreement nor the EEOC settlement agreement (which focuses only on employment law related matters) contains any limitations whatsoever on the Firm’s ability to represent any existing or future client in any matter.”
A spokesperson for the EEOC, Victor Chen, declined to provide Business Insider with copies of the agency’s agreements with the law firms.
A total of nine law firms have made deals with Trump, pledging pro bono work, among other things.
A&O Shearman’s letter came alongside correspondence from the other eight firms that responded to questions from lawmakers about whether those deals are legal and ethical.
A&O Shearman jointly struck a deal with three other law firms — Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Latham & Watkins — where they committed a total of $500 million in pro bono services, according to Trump’s post.
According to Trump’s Truth Social post, the law firms are expected to devote pro bono work toward combating antisemitism; “ensuring fairness in our Justice System;” and helping law enforcement, veterans, relatives of military members who have died in combat, and first responders.
“Our lawyers already do pro bono work in each of these areas — indeed, much of our lawyers’ current and historical pro bono work centers on fairness in the justice system, and we have long represented veterans and victims of religious discrimination,” A&O Shearman wrote in its letter.
The firm added that “no lawyer is required or expected to work on a pro bono matter they do not believe in.”
Rep. David Min, one of the lawmakers who asked the Big Law firms about their deals with Trump, told Business Insider that any such agreement wouldn’t be enforceable anyway.
Because Trump seems to have a different impression of what the deals provide, “these firms are all basically claiming that there was no meeting of the minds,” meaning they can’t be enforced, said Min, a former law professor who has lectured on the limits of settlements.
Spokespeople for each of the nine firms that made deals with Trump, which collectively pledged nearly $1 billion worth of free work, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, a White House spokesperson said the deals “could usher in a new era of merit and fairness in our justice system.” The spokesperson did not respond to questions about the terms of the deals.
The May 8 letter from A&O Shearman came the same day a lawyer for the Justice Department said he wasn’t aware of any written agreements between Trump and Big Law firms.
“I know of nothing beyond the generally publicly available information,” Richard Lawson told US District Judge Loren AliKhan in a hearing for a lawsuit the law firm Susman Godfrey brought against the Trump administration.
Susman Godfrey is among the four law firms that have not made a deal with Trump and were targeted by his executive orders that would strip employees of security clearances and ban them from federally owned buildings.
Each of the four firms sued the administration and won court orders blocking the implementation of Trump’s orders.
Read the full article here
