England: Call for lawyers to quit City firm over Trump deal

A former lawyer at A&O Shearman, Olivier Fréget, called on his ex-colleagues not to each be an “accomplice” in Trump’s crackdown on the legal sector as the firm came to an agreement with the US president.

Mr Trump’s administration is due to receive $125m (£94m) legal work from several firms – for free – in exchange for the resolution of an investigation into their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.

Mr Fréget, formerly global co-head of competition law at the firm, took to social media to ask his colleagues not to pick “guaranteed money flows against integrity”.

Having left the firm eight years earlier due to “internal poor management issues”, he said the deal “makes each partner potentially an accomplice of Trump’s project”.

A&O Shearman told staff the deal was a business decision intended to resolve an inquiry into the DEI practices and ethics of top law firms “without any admission of liability or wrongdoing on the firm’s part”.

Mr Trump has been accused of “bullying” the legal sector after targeting law firms over their work for political opponents as well as their DEI policies. 

A source at A&O Shearman said nobody has resigned over the decision.