• A&O Shearman says its deal with Trump includes nothing beyond the president's brief Truth Social post.
• Trump's posts don't explain how his deals with Big Law firms are supposed to be enforced.
• For A&O Shearman, at least, the terms remain vague.

For one of the Big Law firms that made a deal with President Donald 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 complete terms" of the deal. A&O Shearman and three other firms 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 11, 2025 social media post," William E. White and William J.F. Roll III, the firm's co-general counsels, wrote in the May 8 letter.

Prior to A&O Shearman's letter to Congress, it was unclear whether any law firm had a written agreement spelling out the terms of the deals. 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 existed.

Several unresolved questions remain about the deals between the law firms and the White House, each of which Trump announced on his social media platform.

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 spelling out these details does not exist. It said it also resolved separate inquiries from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, whose 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."

Victor Chen, a spokesperson for the EEOC, declined to provide Business Insider with copies of the agency's agreements with the law firms.

The nine law firms that made deals with Trump agreed to provide pro bono work for the administration, among other concessions.

A&O Shearman's letter came alongside correspondence from the other eight firms in response 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 — to commit a total of $500 million in pro bono services, according to Trump's post.

Trump's Truth Social post said the law firms were 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. Dave Min, a Democratic lawmaker who asked the Big Law firms about their deals with Trump, told Business Insider that such an 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 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.