Law students sue EEOC over investigative letters sent to 20 BigLaw firms

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Legislation college students sue EEOC over investigative…

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Legislation college students sue EEOC over investigative letters despatched to twenty BigLaw corporations

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 17, 2025, 9:43 am CDT

Three legislation college students have filed a lawsuit asking a federal court docket to order the Equal Employment Alternative Fee to withdraw investigative letters despatched to twenty BigLaw corporations and to return and delete data that it gathered from them.

The April 15 go well with, filed within the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Columbia, says the EEOC acted past its authority when it demanded that legislation corporations flip over delicate private details about their candidates and staff relationship again six to 10 years.

The legislation college students, who filed the go well with utilizing pseudonyms, are represented by Democracy Ahead, a nonprofit authorized companies group, in response to a April 15 press launch.

Legislation.com and Reuters have protection.

Reuters referred to as the go well with “the most recent pushback towards President Donald Trump’s efforts to rein in main legislation corporations and eradicate office variety, fairness and inclusion packages.”

The plaintiffs are three legislation college students who both utilized to or labored at certainly one of extra of the 20 focused corporations. Info sought from the corporations consists of “delicate private details about plaintiffs and their employment historical past: their title, intercourse, race, contact data, tutorial efficiency and compensation,” the go well with says.

Now that the EEOC and Andrea Lucas, the appearing EEOC chair, have demanded the knowledge, the go well with says, the plaintiffs “are deeply nervous that their knowledge shall be divulged, and that they might be focused consequently.”

The legislation creating the EEOC offers that an investigation may be performed solely after a selected cost has been filed, the go well with says. The legislation additionally “imposed strict confidentiality necessities on these costs and investigations, in addition to on efforts to acquire voluntary compliance,” in response to the go well with.

These necessities haven’t been met, in response to the allegations.

The EEOC sought the knowledge in a March 17 letter and introduced the motion in a press launch. The focused corporations are: Perkins Coie; Cooley; Reed Smith; A&O Shearman; Debevoise & Plimpton; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Goodwin Procter; Hogan Lovells; Kirkland & Ellis; Latham & Watkins; McDermott Will & Emery; Milbank; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Morrison & Foerster; Ropes & Grey; Sidley Austin; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; White & Case; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

Six of the focused corporations have since reached offers with Trump to keep away from turning into a goal of punitive govt orders that will withdraw their attorneys’ safety clearances and will imperil their illustration of presidency contractors.

In accordance with Legislation.com, these six corporations are: Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Milbank and Skadden. It’s unclear whether or not agreements reached with Skadden and Milbank resolve the EEOC request. The opposite 4 corporations agreed to compliance monitoring as a part of these offers, but it surely’s not identified in the event that they agreed to supply the requested data.

See additionally:

EEOC chair requested ‘intensive’ data from legislation corporations on DEI practices and hiring; did it cross a line?

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