US civil rights agency targets 20 big law firms with demand for DEI data
Source: Reuters
The head of the U.S. agency that enforces laws banning workplace discrimination on Monday warned 20 major law firms that their employment policies meant to boost diversity, equity and inclusion may be illegal
The letters, from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's acting chair, Andrea Lucas, seek detailed information on DEI programs at the firms, some of which have ties to President Donald Trump's political opponents or have challenged his policies in court.
Lucas said some of the firms had publicly touted their commitment to diversifying their workforces and at least two had adopted explicit numerical goals for recruiting lawyers based on their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity.
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Lucas also asked for the name, sex and race of every lawyer who has worked at or applied for a job at the firms since 2019 and whether each one participated in diversity programs or "affinity groups." She asked for some of the information in a "searchable Excel spreadsheet."
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-civil-rights-agency-warns-law-firms-over-workplace-dei-policies-2025-03-17/

msongs
(71,128 posts)dlk
(12,615 posts)Who do they think they are?
Javaman
(63,665 posts)Pissing off lawyers is not a smart move by any metric
PSPS
(14,488 posts)Just wait until they abscond with the SS trust fund.
Frasier Balzov
(4,329 posts)This is the information which allows a specific Trump operative who is directly responsible for making a threat to be located and physically confronted.
Definitely need more of this kind of information out there in the hands of activists who are willing to act upon it.
Eugene
(64,538 posts)oldmanlynn
(643 posts)The whole United States needs to ridicule these people for trying to lash out at DEI, which does nothing but improve an environment where everybodys included nobodys discriminated against. DEI is not illegal. Its not illegal to have diversity. Its not illegal to push for equity. Its not illegal to be inclusive.
Its actually a form of their own racism
Shipwack
(2,611 posts)None mutually exclusive.
1) Fear
2) The incorrect assumption (or hope) that it doesn't affect them
3) Racism
EuterpeThelo
(21 posts)Not only is my own **fantastic** employer of nine years (anniversary just last week - they've stuck with me FIERCELY through the most difficult time in my life, losing my soulmate of 20+ years to COVID and my beloved mama to a brain tumor just 11 months later) on this list, but after 28 years in my field, firms that could be considered successors-in-interest to my first two firms are also being targeted.
I'm a proud member of the PRIDE group at my current firm and I've participated in basically EVERY DEI initiative we've sponsored in the past decade. In fact, the firm's ranking as one of the best law firms for women, a 100% score on Human Rights Watch's corporate diversity scorecard for supporting the LGBTQ+ community and the opportunity to earn billable credit for pro bono work (for which I earned a certificate from Lawyers For Good Government in 2023 for my volunteerism in the areas of asylum/family separation, reproductive rights and cannabis clemency) were one of the chief motivators for me in joining my firm.
I remember being in TEARS when, not even a year after I joined the firm, during the first WEEK of Corpulent Caligula's first term, I learned that nearly thirty lawyers from my firm were on the ground at Logan Airport assisting victims of the attempted "Muslim ban," sitting cross-legged on the cold concrete floor with their laptops alongside those families upon whom chaos and stress was being rained down for no valid reason.
My firm's very first case, over 100 years ago, was on behalf of a Titanic survivor AGAINST the White Star Line. After almost 20 years of increasing disillusionment finding out the firms that employed me repped clients like the manufacturers of asbestos, breast implants or weapons of war, I recall crying out loud to my dear mama (now gone nearly four years), "I'm finally working for the white hats!"
I want you to know that not all lawyers are greedy a$$holes. I've benefited greatly over the decades from their generosity, from the manager at my first firm who personally wrote a check to help her struggling records clerk buy a reliable car to the one who reimbursed me out of his own pocket some of the money I had to spend earlier this year to evacuate my family and cats from the L.A. fires (and thank the gods that was all we lost and we had a home to which we could return, unlike SO many of my neighbors). Many of them got into this fight for all the right reasons. In some ways, I can only hope that they are the last bastion of defense against this creeping evil that seeks to destroy us all. Please spare a thought for them in the upcoming battles they're waging or about to wage.
maxrandb
(16,519 posts)With a note, detailing that they were hired "based on their race and religion".
Seriously! Fucking turn it around on these racist asshats!
If you are a university, corporation, business, or law firm, I bet there are a shit-ton of white individuals that got their position based on their race!
Expose them! Make them prove they didn't get their jobs due to their race.
Fight fire with fire.
OldBaldy1701E
(7,705 posts)iemanja
(55,862 posts)under DEI, and now the lawyers. Trump is methodically going after one group after another, and much of the public supports it and even eggs him on. This is how Hitler consolidated power.
pfitz59
(11,460 posts)He's itching to take on the Trumpies.
2naSalit
(96,514 posts)And they should file suit against those harassing them about this.