This Law Firm Had To Delete A LOT To Purge Its Diversity And Pro Bono Work

While most of the industry’s scorn is directed toward the Biglaw powers that sold their pro bono services to the Trump administration (and started denying it furiously as clients bailed), don’t overlook the lower profile acts of cowardice that law firms have embraced over the last four months. Some firms, allegedly, tried to use the executive orders against peer firms as a poaching opportunity. Most firms still haven’t stood up for firms in the administration’s crosshairs. And others have taken the invitation to “obey in advance” by nuking their in-house diversity initiatives — no matter how innocuous — and purge their websites of any trace of social conscience.

Another firm that’s trying to hide the initiatives it long celebrated is Holland & Knight. And unlike some firms erasing a couple bullet points, Holland & Knight had to take a substantial hammer to their website to make it happen!

Last month, this is what the website looked like:

Headlining their expertise in handling arbitrary executive orders! Diversity & Inclusion! Community! Women’s Initiative! The firm boasted quite an identity on April 11.

Today it’s a little different.

It’s not like Trump’s executive orders have slowed at all. But more to the point, the whole menu of firm community policies has disappeared. Let’s check out what the firm doesn’t want folks to see.

The Community Commitment page used to hype the firm’s “Public and Charitable Service Department,” an entity designed “to integrate the firm’s global pro bono, community service and charitable giving initiatives to make deeper investments in communities in need.” All three of those linked landing pages now redirect to the homepage. Apparently “giving to charity” is too hot for the firm in this environment. On the other hand, I guess the DOJ is using charitable donations to label firms threats to national security.

The Diversity and Inclusion page is also a redirect. The page used to discuss the firm’s Diversity Council and office committees, recruiting initiatives, training programs for women in the profession, mentoring programs, a host of video and podcast resources, and a lengthy recitation of accolades:

Not anymore.

The firm was once very proud of its Women’s Initiative…

The Holland & Knight Women’s Initiative is dedicated to the recruitment, retention and advancement of women attorneys, and to sustaining a positive and supportive environment for the firm’s women attorneys. The main goals of our Women’s Initiative program are to enhance professional opportunities both in and outside the firm for women lawyers, and to encourage all of the firm’s attorneys to be active leaders in professional and civic organizations in the communities in which they live.

Gone. Searching the full site for references to the Women’s Initiative is like an archaeological expedition, revealing mere traces of the program. There was a wine tasting in 2019… but that sort of networking is far too controversial for sensitive eyes in 2025.

Don’t worry, the Case Studies page still exists. No reason to excise the 2024 Private Equity Year In Review report!

The Recognition page is, in some ways, the most tragic. While most of these pages have disappeared without a trace into homepage redirects, the Recognition page is the only one currently sent to a dead Page Not Found. Tragic because it feels as though this is the page that they couldn’t quite figure out what to do with. As opposed to Diversity and Inclusion or Pro Bono, it’s like they didn’t want to kill the Recognition page totally so they just put it on ice until they could figure out what to save…

This Mansfield designation almost surely has to go, but maybe we can save the “2025 Best Lawyers ‘Best Law Firms’ Guide” designation? Did their methodology include anything we don’t want to highlight anymore? Is being recognized by Latin Lawyer good or bad? It’s about having a strong practice in Mexico and Colombia but might someone in the administration mistake that for diversity?

Obviously this is speculation, but it is weird that this is the only page that seems to be living in limbo.

And if it returns to the site someday soon with its Chambers ranking intact and its Human Rights Campaign badge gone, it’s going to give a very cynical vibe.

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. 

The post This Law Firm Had To Delete A LOT To Purge Its Diversity And Pro Bono Work appeared first on Above the Law.