Cohen leads the charge - will the UK follow?
An associate who resigned from Skadden when it failed to respond to Donald Trump’s attack on law firms has encouraged UK lawyers to “pressure” their firms “to take action and present a united front”.
Trump issued executive orders banning Covington & Burling, Perkins Coie, Paul, Weiss and this week Jenner & Block and WilmerHale from government contracts after deeming them guilty of crimes as despicable as representing “failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton” and rehiring a partner who had joined “the Manhattan District Attorney’s office solely to manufacture a prosecution against me”.
Trump’s administration has in addition ordered twenty firms to prove their diversity policies don’t breach discrimination legislation.
Hundreds of associates including Cohen put their names to an open letter demanding firms stand up to Trump.
Although Perkins Coie and Jenner & Block have filed lawsuits fighting the orders impacting them, Paul, Weiss has come under fire for agreeing to have its diversity policies inspected and to contribute $40m of pro bono legal services to Trump’s administration, in exchange for the revocation of the order against the firm.
Like most of BigLaw, Skadden has remained silent throughout - and remained mum when finance associate Cohen handed in her two weeks’ notice.
In an ultimatum she made public, Cohen told Skadden management she would withdraw her resignation "if the firm comes up with a satisfactory response to the current moment".
That response had to include "at minimum" Skadden joining Perkins Coie in its litigation against Trump and rejecting his administration’s demands.
Skadden declined her invitation and blocked Cohen’s email access, pushing the lawyer into a new role as a spokesperson for a cohort of US associates appalled at their firms’ capitulation when confronted by a threat to their bottom lines.
In correspondence with RollOnFriday, Cohen said her resignation “was triggered by lack of action not just at Skadden but across the American legal industry, in the face of not only an obvious threat but also lots of internal advocacy and organizing going unheeded”.
She said, “Associates across the industry have been actively pushing their firms to respond to Donald Trump's attacks on the judicial branch”, but despite their entreaties, firms including hers were “refusing to commit to providing continued representation to interests the Trump administration might view as adverse”.
Asked whether she felt BigLaw had erred by allowing lawyers to believe that it valued progressive causes more than profits, she said, “I don't think this is about ‘progressive causes’ or an ask to sacrifice money for the sake of a progressive cause. I think this is about the fabric of the American legal system and its continued existence”.
But the experience has changed her understanding of how the profession operates. “I did believe that Skadden and the industry as a whole was a place that cared about both profits and justice, and that I would be able to participate in impactful pro bono work so long as I balanced my billable work”, she said.
Cohen told ROF she would like to see all law firms taking the actions she requested of Skadden, and said UK lawyers at US firms were especially well-placed to mount a defence.
“These are still your employers and it's helpful for them to remember the world is watching”, she said.
“UK lawyers at (and UK clients of) American law firms currently targeted by the President have the same capacity to pressure the firms to take action and present a united front refusing to accept the President's acquiescence as U.S. lawyers and clients”, said Cohen: “if not more, given that y'all seem to have clearer eyes about what's happening”.
Skadden did not respond to a request for comment.
Read more: Trump should be thanked: he’s shown how BigLaw really works
Join thousands of candidates from hundreds of firms and businesses on LawyerUp, the app where top employers get in touch directly when they like you for a role. It's available on the App Store and Google Play.
Comments
117
101
"Can you prove your hiring policies don't contravene discrimination legislation? We've noticed statements on your website that indicate they might do."
"This is an attack on law firms."
138
66
It’s a nice idea, but for all the chat, lawyers are rarely idealistic.
If lawyers can find excuses to stay at a firm which bullied subpostmasters, they’ll find excuses to not take action about a bit of text on a website.
80
54
Remember that NFL player who took a knee and no other team ever signed.
72
59
"rehiring a partner who had joined “the Manhattan District Attorney’s office solely to manufacture a prosecution against [Trump]"
Oddly this bit of politically motivated persecution by the state got far less 'internal advocacy and organizing' from those currently bewailing an urgent and existential threat to The Rule Of Law (again).
But it's the principles they care about. Of course.
149
86
These law firms were up to their eyeballs in attacks on Trump. There is no progressive or Democratic cause that they haven’t endorsed and supported, financially and professionally. Yes this is obviously political payback and it’s something I never want in Britain, but these firms and their lawyers decided to become aggressive political players and tried to destroy Trump and his movement. There are consequences, if you lose, as they did. You can either cut a deal like Paul Weiss and survive that way. Or you try to fight and win like Perkins, but you still might lose. You stick your head in the mouth of the tiger, sometimes it will bite. The world is not ending. That’s the game; that’s always been the game in American politics and law. That’s the game they all tried to play, just for Biden. Let’s not be naive.
Happily, I live in Britain with an aging organic farming monarch in beautiful suits, his nice but dim son, a wonderfully boring and incompetent Prime Minister, a zany but harmless opposition leader and Ed Davies on inflatable bananas off the coast of Cornwall. God bless Britain. I love this fair country.
82
50
The ones I feel most sorry are the Muppets who try to join her without first having got their second career as a Twitter pundit and online activist lined up.
80
53
“I did believe that Skadden and the industry as a whole was a place that cared about both profits and justice“
Nope! Better luck next time!
101
73
It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy.
99
67
As another poster last week pointed out, DEI policies in the UK are mostly a smokescreen to look good to Gen Z / millennial candidates, and in practice just mean firms hiring and promoting a few rich kids who aren’t white men. In that sense, nothing will change following this. There has never been any illegal discrimination in the UK either, so again firms will continue as usual.
The Trump administration is staffed entirely by Nazi thickos who will be very easy to fool by simply changing a few words on the firms’ websites. Nothing in practice will change in terms of DEI programs, they just won’t be publicised as much.
PW’s capitulation is different of course - given they have agreed to give a pile of free work to further the MAGAnazi cause. They’re signed up to participate actively rather than passively in the Trump regime’s Gleichschaltung process.
48
70
Lmao @ 09:40 Anon. "A woman has quit her job. This is just like Jorjor Wel and his 1984. The West has fallen and we must RETVRN."
80
60
Er no. She can **** right off, we’ve enough going on without playing Orange Man Bad.
She’d make a good politico with an attitude like this.
80
53
Episode 8 of the Wire: “Come at the King, you best not miss”. These firms missed.
70
123
DE&I is important to create a level playing ground. Without such policy formally in place, BAME (including mixed race) will have zero chance of even landing a TC because partners and senior associates have a tendency to hire candidates of the same skin colour and social / academic background.
The ‘business case’ here is that your clients are presumably culturally diverse too so would like to see their lawyers to embrace diversity.
82
57
SECOND EXCLUSIVE Skadden associate who quit over Trump tells UK lawyers: ... erm, actually no one can remember what she said because it's now tomorrow and no one cares anymore, but well done on blowing up your career at, what, 3PQE and all I'm sure it was worth it kthxbai.
61
60
I will follow her lead on this. I will write to the Managing Partner copying in all staff, demanding that the firm make an immediate statement categorically condemning President Trump in the strongest possible terms, otherwise they can accept my email as my notice.
55
52
Anonymous 09:54 - have you been inside a city law firm? Most generally don’t hire BAME lawyers even with the DEI initiatives in place. Let them show their true colours, pardon the pun. It would be better for applicants if they could distinguish who is paying lip service and who takes inclusion seriously.
81
45
This associate joined Skadden, one of the most ruthless, hard nosed corporate law firms in the world.
The word "naive" springs to mind.
97
58
The comments on LinkedIn are some of the wildest things I’ve ever read from lawyers, so I’m preserving them for posterity. All real :
I have never seen so many people cosplay as both constitutional saviors and resistance fighters in the same comment section. It’s a mix of Marvel monologue, HR talking points, and post-apocalyptic political fanfic. They post hundreds of lines from deluded colleagues who think the only acceptable opinion is liberal. It’s Rachel Zegler energy — the 20-year-old actress who told half the country not to show up to see Snow White if they vote red, declared herself the moral authority on DEI, and then watched her movies bomb. That’s the vibe - loud, smug, self-righteous. And no doubt they'll show up again in this comment section. Cockroaches.
78
70
Jesus. These law firms are cowardly as fvck. They were the first line of defence of the rule of law and they crumbled and ran away before even the first shot was fired. Now it's down to the judiciary to fight the fight alone.
To those Law firms - it's not too late. Pick up your ethical compass and fight back the front line. We need every lawyer.
66
64
Lawyer from another US Elite - Hey, Skadden, I’d love to join the firm. I work for another US Elite firm, which continues to have DEI policies. I’m ready to move to Skadden, my personal target is 2,350 hours/year (billable, not a single DEI-related). #MAGA
62
51
Paul Weiss appears to be a new species of invertebrate.
77
60
"I have never seen so many people cosplay as both constitutional saviors and resistance fighters in the same comment section. It’s a mix of Marvel monologue, HR talking points, and post-apocalyptic political fanfic."
It's weird isn't it?
The spectacle of watching otherwise intelligent people rave away at each other, playing some weird improv game in which they seem to be competing to be most alarmed about the imminent apocalypse.
Then they just go back to work afterwards as if nothing had just happened.
Instead of doing what you would imagine people who genuinely thought they were living in a fascist takeover would do, which is to stock up on beans and drive for the border.
The End Of Democracy Is Nigh (Again) And Fascists Are Taking over, but I just need to shuffle a bit of paper around a desk for another hour before popping out for a latte. Weird.
56
50
DEI is just the excuse. Having seen law firms roll over for him, Rump will then attack law firms who take on cases that he disapproves of.
57
52
I'm really torn here because I want to be idealistic about it all but being cynical is so much more satisfying and better for my mental health...
I do secretly (openly) think "you go Perkins Coie".
Also, surely everyone has considered the possibility that this is just the way Trump operates? Go at it at 1000% to get the 50% he initially wanted, and watch everyone go on an emotional rollercoaster for entertainment purposes....because, like...this is all one big Apprentice for him?
55
51
Naive fool.
52
60
This authoritarian bullshit... for four years at LEAST.
52
50
I see Slaughters have already fallen in line given their 6 new partners (despite being a domestic firm).
54
54
For four more years and then perhaps just one more term, with the title of President for Life.
59
45
Supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies.
56
52
WilmerHale have come out swinging. There is some fight left in the dogs yet.
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/28/g-s1-56890/law-firms-sue-trump
49
66
The way things are going, it’s like people want to scrap every last DE&I policy so the top law firms can go back to being exclusive little white boys' clubs with zero diversity.
Honestly, I’m baffled by how little pushback there is on this. No wonder there are barely any BAME solicitors in the industry - and even when they do get in, they’ve got next to no chance of making it to the top. The unconscious bias is real, and these lawyers are practically destined to fail from day one.
48
50
DEI has turned into a lobbying tool for incompetent but rich, loud, and overly confident women to use. That is quite sad, because the principles behind it are sound. I do wish there were more diverse men hired from time to time too, our own head of DEI was sacked at the request of a loud group of women because he was man (working class and gay, but wrong gender). Time to end this madness.
63
53
"it’s like people want to scrap every last DE&I policy so the top law firms can go back to being exclusive little white boys' clubs with zero diversity."
It's true. Before George Floyd died there were no black people in law at all.
If they ever found one in the building they used to grind them down into a paste they used to fix damaged old straw boaters with.
58
60
State of these comments. They goose step among us.
42
48
Did Cohen secure her role via nepotism? There is a lot of nepotism in the legal profession based on skin color, religion, and ethnicity.
Why are people upset about investigating discriminatory hiring practices? Someone said DEI benefitted posh/rich white women and other white skin minorities
61
71
Most DEI in (uk) law firms favours confident, public school educated women with wealthy parents.
There is very little 'true' diversity or equity - ie levelling up for everyone and addressing inbuilt biases.
Ever walked around a city law firm? Very very few ethnic minority partners, very few disabled people generally, very few working class partners, a reasonable number of rich white women in management roles.
Many clients will not appoint firms who don't pitch with a sufficient number of women in the client team, but they don't care whether those people are able bodied, their sexuality, their religion, their class etc etc. just that there is women.
So, law has a LONG LONG LONG way to go but firms only really slap themselves on the back when promoting (rich, straight, white) women.
48
51
These comments….
56
48
"State of these comments. They goose step among us."
The Nazis! Everything I don't like is the Nazis!
There are literally Nazis goosestepping amongst us, and they've taken over the White House!
But now I'm going to sit quietly at my desk and review documents for ten hours before going home and watching a bit of Netflix. Must remember to get teabags on the way.
That's the rational thing for people who believe they're living in a fascist takeover to do.
42
54
“But now I'm going to sit quietly at my desk and review documents for ten hours before going home and watching a bit of Netflix. Must remember to get teabags on the way.
That's the rational thing for people who believe they're living in a fascist takeover to do.”
History shows that’s exactly what most people do during a fascist takeover. The takeover of Germany by the Nazis was very closely analogous to Trump’s Maganazi takeover. Ignorant people think there was some moment where Hitler suddenly went from nothing to just declaring himself Fuhrer for life and setting up the gas chambers. In reality, Nazification is a gradual process and took Hitler the best part of ten years to fully accomplish.
And most people on this board are UK based lawyers. What behaviour would you expect from an English City lawyer in response to the MAGAnazi Gleichshaultung?
49
53
"History shows that’s exactly what most people do during a fascist takeover."
What? Spend all day long howling about how one is happening on the internet for likes and favourites, but then go back to their day jobs and ineffectually shuffle documents around between bouts of browsing Rightmove as if there was nothing to worry about?
Shouldn't you be too busy setting up an underground kindertransport for trans-people and DEI consultants?
Only you can save them from the Nazi takeover that you alone are enlightened enough to see!
54
49
Does anyone have any stats about diversity in law firms?
I wonder if some ethnic groups are over represented and if so, whether DEI needs to be tailored to help the actually underrepresented groups to succeed?
43
49
“go back to their day jobs and ineffectually shuffle documents around between bouts of browsing Rightmove as if there was nothing to worry about?”
Yes that’s exactly what most Germans did in 1933 - or the equivalent at least.
Fine that you are embarrassingly historically illiterate. But I’m not sure what point you are making. Do you think that every fascist toppling of democracy has been resisted en masse by the majority of the population? Because that simply isn’t the case.
And even then, what do you expect the UK lawyers populating ROF to do about it? Get on a flight to America to try to assassinate Trump? You do you but that’s a weird expectation.
48
48
DEI means progression for middle class white women and a few others - the labour cabinet represents this. Glass ceiling for certain minorities and working class
56
49
DEI is bigotry. If you give educational or employment advantages to some people because of immutable biological characteristics, you disadvantage people who don’t possess those characteristics. This is the definition of discrimination. DEI proponents are indistinguishable from bigots throughout history who wrapped their hatred and tribalism in supposed virtue.
For a period of time from the Obama administration, ‘diversity’ and ‘equity’ were replacing ‘merit and equal opportunities at point of entry’. ‘Diversity/equity’ never means representation of, e.g. the working class, or conservatives, or Asians, it is a weapon used to advance carefully selected, politically-favoured ‘tribes’. There is no difference between (i) diversity; (ii) targets; (iii) quotas; (iv) affirmative action; and (v) anti-white/anti-Asian/anti-male discrimination. They are substantially identical except for the level of euphemism. Diversity should be irrelevant: all that should matter is merit.
Bluntly précised, the diversity bandwagon grifters’ schtick is simply: “We can’t impose our left-wing social engineering via objective measures of merit and competence, so we’re now deploying blackmail, quotas, and affirmative action - and creating jobs for ourselves as the moral arbiters of wrongthink”.
There's a collection of interesting studies here: https://controlc.com/c4fa8aba
Excerpts:
• In a series of very influential studies (2015; 2018; 2020; 2023) McKinsey reported statistically significant positive relations between DEI and company performance. Indeed, McKinsey is frequently credited for having led the wave of diversity initiatives in the West. However, they appear to have fabricated their data. A paper published in March 2024 in Econ Journal Watch found that McKinsey's results could not be replicated: ''Our inability to [replicate] their results suggests that ... they should not be relied on to support the view that US publicly traded firms can expect to deliver improved financial performance if they increase the racial/ethnic diversity of their executives.'' https://econjwatch.org/articles/mckinsey-s-diversity-matters-delivers-wins-results-revisited / Matt Walsh's commentary: "What This DEI Consulting Firm Lied About Is Actually Evil", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imLMG7C6oF4
• Does diversity make teams work better? Apparently not! A new, comprehensive preregistered meta-analysis found that, whether the diversity was demographic, cognitive, or occupational, its relationship with performance was near-zero. The paper paints an unsupportive picture of the idea that diversity increases teams performance. Wallrich, Lukas, Victoria Opara, Miki Wesołowska, Ditte Barnoth, and Sayeh Yousefi. "The relationship between team diversity and team performance: reconciling promise and reality through a comprehensive meta-analysis registered report." (2024). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/nscd4
• "Diversity is simply a political theory favored by advocates of identity politics. Its origins still define it. "Science" has ever since been playing catch-up-trying to supply a scientific foundation for what is a political objective. The primary function of the business case is to lend a veneer of scientific respectability to the political program of affirmative action for women and non-whites. The scientific evidence does not support the claims made by advocates of diversity in the workplace." Source: Maitland, I. (2018). Why the business case for diversity is wrong. Geo. JL & Pub. Pol'y, 16, 731, https://www.law.georgetown.edu/public-policy-journal/in-print/volume-16-special-issue-2018/why-the-business-case-for-diversity-is-wrong/
• "The DEI view of justice turns out to be fundamentally incorrect.[…] Long story short: In the First World, the primary cause of unequal success is not unfair treatment, but unequal performance — and the main exception to this rule is mandatory discrimination driven by the ideology of DEI itself. This is all pretty obvious, but DEI uses severe intimidation to make unbelievers feign assent. Which is, by the way, highly unjust.” https://www.betonit.ai/p/gmus-orwellian-just-societies-requirement
• "Complex Systems Won’t Survive the Competence Crisis. [...] By the 1960s, the systematic selection for competence came into direct conflict with the political imperatives of the civil rights movement. During the period from 1961 to 1972, a series of Supreme Court rulings, executive orders, and laws—most critically, the Civil Rights Act of 1964—put meritocracy and the new political imperative of protected-group diversity on a collision course. Administrative law judges have accepted statistically observable disparities in outcomes between groups as prima facie evidence of illegal discrimination. The result has been clear: any time meritocracy and diversity come into direct conflict, diversity must take priority. [...]"
https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/06/01/complex-systems-wont-survive-the-competence-crisis / Matt Walsh's commentary: "This Is How Pilots Are Being Chosen To Fly. You Should Be Concerned", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlSbvmJt928
48
48
The ethnicity data from Knights plc is jaw dropping and might deserve a Roll on Friday article of its own.
50
44
Looking at those comments and realising that most of us are racist f@£&'s. We secretly hate DEI but are cowards to not admit it in meetings.
45
51
Should we discuss law firms with v low BAME staff percentages?