T14 Law School’s Faculty Shows Biglaw What A Spine Looks Like

The list of institutions willing to stand up to a lawless administration is shorter than it should be. But an open letter released by the NYU School of Law faculty offers a moral and professionally ethical guide for dealing with the Trump White House that several Biglaw firms would be well-served to consider.

Over 100 NYU Law professors signed the clear-eyed, defiant message: they oppose the federal government’s attacks on academic freedom, legal independence, and constitutional norms. In a world where even conservative commentators are calling for organized uprisings, a statement of principles might sound tame, but you can’t get anywhere without knowing where you stand first. This is a declaration of resistance from inside the halls of a school that sits at the intersection of law, power, and elite career pipelines.

The Administration has pursued executive actions targeting universities, their faculties, and their students in ways that undermine academic independence and the free exchange of ideas. If such actions continue, the damage to our intellectual communities, which depend on the lawful freedom of expression and open exchange of ideas, could be immense. So too would be the danger to basic due process values that protect each and every one of us.

NYU isn’t an outlier bastion of radical protest. It’s one of the most pipeline-heavy law schools in the country, sending graduates into elite Biglaw firms and government posts on greased tracks. As an institution, NYU could tangibly benefit by keeping its head down — or selling out completely — to keep its graduates in good stead with this administration and its lackey firms. And its faculty in their individual capacities know this well. This is an environment where federal judges are comfortable organizing boycotts to punish students to bully weak-willed schools into concessions — to think the administration won’t add “don’t hire anyone from schools we don’t like” to their list of law firm demands betrays an adorable naiveté. And there are law schools out there right now gleefully courting authoritarianism if it gets them an extra Aileen Cannon clerkship to report to US News.

NYU Law’s professors couldn’t compromise their principles.

We further share a commitment to the rule of law and to the role of lawyers and judges in preserving that rule of law. As the American Bar Association states in the preamble to its Model Rules of Professional Conduct, “[a]n independent legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law, for abuse of legal authority is more readily challenged by a profession whose members are not dependent on government for the right to practice.” The Administration’s executive orders targeting individual lawyers and law firms have no basis in law and are contrary to the protections of our Constitution. Requiring lawyers to acquiesce to improper demands or face such punishment places them in a position inconsistent with the essential role of lawyers as independent advocates for their clients.

NYU’s faculty also puts daylight between themselves and their uptown rivals at Columbia, where university leadership immediately handed the administration everything it asked for, only to find the White House return with even bigger demands.

It’s not going to reverse the damage overnight. But there is a kind of hope here. Because if NYU Law can remember its spine — and say so, publicly, in numbers — maybe other law faculties won’t be far behind.

If your law school’s faculty wants to step up to the plate and join NYU, let us know.

(Full letter on the next page…)

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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