Skadden Associates Plotting Protest Against Cowardly Firm

Last week, Biglaw firm Skadden Arps bent a knee to the Trump administration, striking a deal that includes $100 million in pro bono payola to prevent Donald Trump from lashing out with an Executive Order targeting the firm. In the aftermath of that wildly controversial deal, Above the Law reported that Skadden shut off the ability for its attorneys to send emails via large internal distribution lists. As they seemingly tried (and failed) to avoid the kind of spectacle that happened earlier this month when third-year associate Rachel Cohen quit Skadden via firmwide email.

But not every associate who hates what the firm has done has the financial wherewithal to just quit their six-figure job. Those student loans won’t pay for themselves and many markets are seeing a glut of attorneys looking for work after the DOGE wrecking ball made a mess. So maybe it isn’t surprising that there’s some organizing going around trying to find other ways to let the firm know what they think.

As previously floated by Cohen, some at the firm are opting out of recruitment events to simultaneously have an impact on the firm without jeopardizing their client work. Multiple sources at the firm say they’ve received the below email trying to rally Skaddenites into taking some sort of action against the firm.

It makes sense that associates are organizing in this way. In addition to the whole low-risk-to-their-own-career aspect, having to sell law students on the benefits of working for Skadden at a time when associates just don’t respect the firm a lot seems particularly fraught.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.

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