Earlier I wrote to you about the Open Letter that associate lawyers from firms across the country signed in protest to the strong-arming of their employer Biglaw firms by the Trump administration. That protest was a valiant effort and deserved recognition.
And now, law students are demonstrating their solidarity by joining the associate lawyers. As described in an article on Above the Law, law students are taking a stance in response to On Campus Interviews by firms like Kirkland & Ellis that capitulated after being targeted by Executive Orders and cooperated on issues of DEI and the promise of millions of pro bono hours for causes identified by and consistent with the Trump agenda. Participating law students have gone the distance and signed Pledges to refuse offers from collaborating Biglaw firms.
This is a bold move by law students. In fact it may be bolder than the response by associates to leave firms over concerns of complicity with executive branch overreach. Although resignation is a big move for any associate lawyer, the reality is that it takes only a few years of practice with a Biglaw firm to earn enough to wipe out most student loan debt. But that is not true for many law students who are taking a stance against Biglaw. Those students may be forfeiting the kind of salaries that allow quick payback of student loan debt, and that makes the decision especially difficult.
Difficult or not, law students are answering the call. Maybe this result should have been expected. When they committed to law school, these students anticipated a career based on respect for the Rule of Law and ethical practice by supervisors and managers who would fight for that result. They had every reason to expect that for the future. And now that future is threatened, and they have so much to lose.
Whether it is young lawyers or law students taking the stance, I applaud the efforts. Ethics and decency in practice have always been a focus for me, and I have written about the subject for years. I was lucky. I learned from the best — my own Dad — who taught me the lessons about ethics and decency in practice which I included in What Millennial Lawyers Want: A Bridge from the Past to the Future of Law Practice (Wolters Kluwer, 2019). In that book I recognized the similar values of
millennial lawyers and Greatest Generation lawyers and wrote:
“Millennial lawyers want purpose and meaning in their work. They care less about money and power than prior generations, and they prefer healthy law firm cultures and work-life balance. If it is a contest between money and power and greed versus healthy life styles, work-life balance, professional and empathetic behavior, and respect for colleagues, it is no contest.”
Bravo to the kids! And, as it turns out, to the adults as well. Lawyers at all stages of practice are showing up in impressive numbers in defense of the Constitution and our democracy. Yesterday, on Law Day, enormous pro-democracy protests erupted across America and internationally.
Early estimates show that at least hundreds of thousands showed up at more than 1,000 events in the US alone. In NYC, an estimated 2000 lawyers rallied in support of the Rule of Law and the judges who interpret it. Protests also occurred across the world, in Germany, Spain, France, Taiwan, Indonesia and elsewhere, as demonstrators celebrated International Workers’ Day and rallied against the Trump regime.
What we are seeing could be a movement. And I like it.
