If you’re subscribed to the various legal industry newsletters, you might have noticed that this morning’s installment of the American Lawyer Morning Update shared a couple of stories about the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. Or, perhaps more accurately, a couple of stories about Biglaw partners fretting about making their next yacht payment because of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
Specifically, here’s a screencap from the newsletter that went out this morning:
“The Biggest Disruption Since Covid for Energy Lawyers” and “How Much Is the US and Israel’s War on Iran Affecting M&A?” On the one hand, you have to appreciate a trade publication for its commitment to the bit. On the other hand….
Kicking off a shooting war in the Middle East undeniably impacts lawyers. That’s newsworthy within the industry. We covered it here at Above the Law, for example discussing the evacuation plans Biglaw firms activated (quoting the American Lawyer’s earlier take on the same subject even!) when missiles started flying across the Middle East. With Biglaw colleagues sheltering in place in Dubai while drones target nearby buildings, that’s a legal industry story with obvious human stakes.
And there’s certainly an economic story to be had here. The war has upended a region with major energy significance. But there’s a subtle distinction between framing a headline around the war being “a new challenge for global energy” and “a big disruption for energy lawyers.” The former sounds like another economic dimension to a global news story and the latter sounds like it’s an inconvenience for lawyers.
Pairing it with an image of black smoke rising from an explosion gives real, “Won’t Someone PLEASE Think Of The Billables?!?” energy. Just show a generic oil tanker if you’re trying to tell an energy market story.
The Deal Watch article isn’t even really about Iran. It opens by noting that M&A deal volume for 2026 is 20% below 2025 levels — and, you know, thoughts and prayers for the deal lawyers — and then cites recent reports from the financial industry disputing how much to blame the war for M&A woes. Then the bulk of the article is a routine rundown of big deals of the week. The paired image of a destroyed apartment building doesn’t seem a natural match with the subject of deal flow.
That said, maybe I’m crazy, but I kind of appreciate this specific story preview on a subversive level. Unlike the first headline’s “Iran War,” this title assigns agency to the U.S. and Israel for initiating the conflict. Hell, I’m using “Iran War” in my headline because “US and Israel’s War on Iran” is a whole lot of extra words — so that’s a choice. Rather than using a generic image of smoke or showing a facility damaged by Iranian drones, the picture shows a destroyed residential building in Iran, doubling down on assigning responsibility to Trump and Netanyahu for kicking off the war and triggering the ensuing fallout. There might be a lot more going on here than it seems at first glance.
Still, there’s a delicate balance to writing a trade story about a life and death event. Create some distance between the human cost and the abstract legal market impacts. Lawyers will still find their way to the story because no one is better at thinking everything is really about them than lawyers — the news doesn’t need to give them any help.
Earlier: Biglaw Drafts Evacuation Plans As Missiles Fly In The Middle East
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post The Iran War Is Killing People, But How Has It Impacted Biglaw’s Billables? appeared first on Above the Law.
