Skadden's Rachel Cohen, Brave or Reckless? - Meanwhile Heat on CMOs to Position and Package Law Firms' Stances/Silence

Legacy media such as The New York Times, professional anonymous networks like Reddit and social media such as Blue Sky. All have been intense in responding to how law firms have been managing or been silent about what might be thought of as “The Trump Factor.” Of course, that affects the law firms’ brand, which could impact client retention and business development. That means law firms’ CMOs are busy or should be.

Last night the frenzy broke out about Paul Weiss’s negotiations with Donald Trump in the oval office. Well, that dealmaking was effective. The Executive Order had been rescinded. However, some perceived the transaction as “groveling” on the part of Paul Weiss. In my Substack column I disagreed.

We also have the Rachel Cohen "situation."  

A third-year associate at Skadden, Cohen has been an activist in reaching out publicly for law firms, including her own, to condemn the values and actions of the US President. That includes her open letter rallying other associates to also go on the record in opposition. In a sense, she is leading a resistance movement. This is at a time when some size up current political affairs as there existing no organized resistance. Here is an excerpt from Cohen:

“The firm has been given time and opportunity to do the right thing. Thus far, we have not. This is a moment that demands urgency. Whether we are failing to meet it because we are unprepared or because we don’t wish to is irrelevant to me—and to the world—where the outcome is the same.

Cohen has stated in a Law.com interview that her opinion doesn't represent that of Skadden. Recently Cohen has given a conditional two-week notice to resign. In addition to Law.com, other media ranging from BusinessInsider to AbovetheLaw have been running with the story.

On the level of an individual’s career, we wonder how this will affect Cohen’s ability to get, hold and move on to better work. Should we consider her noble for resisting or reckless? The legal sector is a kind of closed system and it is easy to wind up on some kind of informal and invisible “do not hire” list. In general law firms have remained silent.

On the level of branding and business development there could be implications for Skadden of Cohen's activism. That is even though she issues the disclaimer that she is not representing the official opinion of that law firm. And, that is what new CMO Luke Ferrandino will have to resolve. The issue is potentially explosive, especially if Cohen cannot find comparable employment.

So, here we are. It will be difficult for most law firms not to be subject to scrutiny for how they deal with or attempt to evade The Trump Factor.

Full Disclosure: When Ferrandino was at Paul Weiss and I was on retainer there didn’t seem to be a fit.

UPDATE:

Rachel Cohen claims to be leading this Reddit thread. She had been on Newshour.

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