Five of America's top law firms operate diversity programs that exclude white applicants or explicitly favor minorities, creating what experts say is a target rich environment for conservative litigants seeking to press the advantage in the wake of the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling.
The firms are some of the most prestigious in the country and routinely top the lists of elite law firm rankings.
While many white-shoe firms have initiatives aimed at boosting minority representation, these firms go further, limiting or entirely excluding white applicants from programs that can pay as much as $3,100 a week, in the case of Wachtell Lipton.
The chutzpah is understandable, said William Trachman, the general counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, since challenging a firm's diversity policy is a surefire way to get blackballed from Big Law.
Wachtell Lipton, ranked the best firm for mergers and acquisitions by Vault.com, and Baker McKenzie, ranked the best firm overall by the National Law Journal, limit their diversity fellowships to students from "Underrepresented" groups, who receive a summer associate job and, in Baker McKenzie's case, a $10,000 bonus.
Sidley Austin, the law firm where Barack and Michelle Obama met, runs a mentorship program that gives "Preference" to "Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, Asian, South Asian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, Middle Eastern/North African," or "Multiracial" law students.
The ruling is widely expected to have a chilling effect on such programs and to embolden challenges to them: Even law firms like Covington & Burling, which has blessed race-based policies at major companies, are now warning their clients about the legal risks of racial preferences, as conservative groups gear up for a major campaign against corporate diversity initiatives.
https://freebeacon.com/courts/meet-the-top-flight-law-firms-running-illegal-diversity-programs/
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