Skadden's Seemingly Very Bad PR Move Mutates into What Could Have Bad Legal Consequences and More
When attention was escalating about the moves of large law firms in dealmaking with the Trump administration some PR moves that might not have been smart were put in play. As they say, mistakes were made.
Right now the focus on them for firms such as Paul Weiss and Kirkland & Ellis is lower in vibrations. Essentially for them it's heigh ho, heigh ho, off to work we go. The news has shifted to the wonderfully high compensation and how there's no shortage of new JD graduates and law students eager to chase it.
Skadden hasn't been as fortunate.
Well, there had been Skadden's decision to shut off email access for associates. That was the internal communications platform to share opinions about the $100 million pro-bono agreement, inform the firm about the reasons for their resignations, organize collective action about not participating in recruitment and post concerns about what are their ethical obligations given the new order of things. Legacy media, tabloids, professional anonymous networks and social ran with condemnation of that.
Now, there also could be legal ramifications. Bloomberg Law News reports:
"The National Institute for Workers’ Rights filed an unfair labor practice charge against Skadden with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday. The group accused the firm of interfering with its associates’ legal rights after it agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono services to the administration, and to curb its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives."
Those associates who did resign in protest of the deal such as Rachel Cohen can leverage this development to increase their resistance influence. Also, it can motivate more associate activism within Skadden A lot depends on how big the NLRB story will get. The scope of the reach of this can also have implications for the business, as in new business development and preventing client churn.
In my coaching I warn organizations and individuals to factor in the court of public opinion in all operational decisions.
UPDATE: Now Paul Weiss is also back in the soup. Here are details.
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