Law Firm Diversity Group Shuts Its Doors Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown
Diversity Lab, a legal industry consulting firm that promotes diversity practices in law firms and corporate legal departments, is closing its doors due to “meritless attacks by government agencies,” according to its founder. The US Federal Trade Commission attempted to enforce a settlement that would ban the firm from collecting or sharing law-firm-specific data and […] The post Law Firm Diversity Group Shuts Its Doors Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown appeared first on POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech..
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Diversity Lab, a legal industry consulting firm that promotes diversity practices in law firms and corporate legal departments, is closing its doors due to “meritless attacks by government agencies,” according to its founder. The US Federal Trade Commission attempted to enforce a settlement that would ban the firm from collecting or sharing law-firm-specific data and shut down its diversity certification program, as per Reuters.
Diversity Lab, founded in 2013, furloughed its 17 employees and paused operations as it sought to resist the FTC’s investigation, which brought the firm to the brink of bankruptcy, the founder, Caren Ulrich Stacy, said.
“The FTC didn’t need a valid legal argument to win,” the letter said. “It just needed a bully pulpit, the resources of the federal government to outlast our small operating budget, and the leverage of threatening to drag our clients into a baseless investigation.”
Diversity Lab shutting down
Stacy believes the FTC actions are part of a wider plan to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders. In January, an FTC letter was sent to 42 law firms stating that their involvement in Diversity Lab’s Mansfield certification, an initative that ensures that atleast 30% of their candidates for senior roles are underrepresented lawyers, was biased and anticompetitive.
Subsequently, law firms ended their work with Diversity Lab after the letter and its operating funds decreased.
Stacy states that the certification is not illegal, as it does not require employers to hire or promote based on certain characteristics.
DEI rollbacks in the law sector
Last year, the federal government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) wrote to 20 firms requesting information on their equal employment practices. The list included firms such as A&O, Shearman, Hogan Lovells, and Freshfields, according to Law Gazette.
The EEOC raised concerns that some firms were utilizing DEI practices that include unlawful treatments based on race, sex, or other protected characteristics in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Image: Tingey Injury Law Firm
The post Law Firm Diversity Group Shuts Its Doors Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown appeared first on POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech..
