white-shoe
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of white-shoe
First recorded in 1975–80; apparently from the white shoes popular as moderately formal wear among suburban men c1980
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That work was handled by lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell, a white-shoe firm that also represents Trump and was hired by Adani last summer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
In fact, Nixon left California and moved to the East Coast, taking a job at a white-shoe law firm and using New York City as his political base of operations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2025
These involve some of the big white-shoe conservative law firms, Consovoy McCarthy and others in D.C.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2024
Macfarlane notes that HHMI’s lead lawyer is Chong Park, a partner at the white-shoe firm Ropes & Gray known for working on large, complex cases.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 4, 2023
“Among my classmates at Harvard, the thing that bright young guys did was securities work or tax,” another white-shoe partner remembers.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
