{"id":806,"date":"2025-03-22T14:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T14:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/22\/the-nonprofit-caught-in-the-fray-of-trumps-attacks-on-big-law-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-03-22T14:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T14:12:09","slug":"the-nonprofit-caught-in-the-fray-of-trumps-attacks-on-big-law-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/22\/the-nonprofit-caught-in-the-fray-of-trumps-attacks-on-big-law-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nonprofit Caught in the Fray of Trump\u2019s Attacks on Big Law – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the process of attacking big law firms this week, the Trump administration hinted at another potential target: a decades-old nonprofit that helps students land jobs on Wall Street.<\/p>\n

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sent letters to 20 law firms on Monday demanding information on their diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I., efforts. All of the letters asked about Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, an organization known as SEO.<\/p>\n

The letters, and the E.E.O.C.\u2019s interest in SEO, may ultimately amount to no more than a headache. But in singling out the organization, President Trump has taken aim at a program that is core to diversity efforts on Wall Street and put a spotlight on the uncertain future of such efforts amid his escalating attacks on D.E.I.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor several decades, that is one of the largest providers of entry-level talent that has gone on \u2014 especially across Wall Street \u2014 to grow up and be senior-level talent across all these firms,\u201d Porter Braswell, the founder of 2045 Studio, a membership network for professionals of color, told DealBook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly important organization that plays a very meaningful role in developing racially diverse talent,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

SEO helps prepare students for Wall Street careers, including by assisting them in getting internships at banks and law firms. The highly selective internship program is different from many of the recruiting organizations that have emerged in recent years to help firms quickly live up to their diversity promises. Lawyers say it would have traditionally eschewed legal scrutiny because it was focused on providing opportunities, not fulfilling a target for diversity numbers.<\/p>\n

But the E.E.O.C. said in an F.A.Q. this week<\/a> that it also considered benefits like training or sponsorship because of an individual\u2019s race to be examples of unlawful discrimination \u2014 even if those benefits were also available to others. While lawyers tell DealBook that they do not believe that guidance will withstand legal challenges, it could scramble diversity efforts already facing pressure. And that raises big questions for Wall Street.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for SEO declined to comment.<\/p>\n

A growing assault.<\/strong> The E.E.O.C. sent its letter to the law firms \u2014 including Kirkland & Ellis; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Latham & Watkins \u2014 as the Trump administration was already ramping up its assault against Big Law. Over the past two months, Trump has signed a memo stripping security clearances from lawyers at Covington & Burling and issued executive orders against Perkins Coie and Paul, Weiss.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the chairman of Paul, Weiss \u2014 long seen as the face of Big Law\u2019s diversity efforts \u2014 struck a deal with Trump to rescind the executive order in exchange for a number of concessions, including $40 million worth of pro bono work on causes supported by Trump<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As part of the deal, Paul, Weiss also reiterated its commitment to \u201cmerits-based hiring, promotion and retention.\u201d Paul, Weiss said it would hire an outside expert, within 14 days, to conduct \u201ca comprehensive audit of all its employment practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s chairman, Brad Karp, said in a memo to employees that the agreement was consistent with the firm\u2019s longstanding principles. But many on Wall Street viewed the deal as capitulation.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Trump administration is broadening its efforts to rein in diversity initiatives. On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission said it would block merger proposals from companies that practiced D.E.I.<\/p>\n

Some banks have already shifted the way they communicate about such efforts. JPMorgan Chase wrote in an internal memo Friday that it would rename its D.E.I. operation \u201cDiversity, Opportunity & Inclusion<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diversity is a longstanding challenge for law firms. <\/strong>Last year, about half of associates at law firms were women, while 31 percent were people of color, according to the National Association for Law Placement,<\/a> an industry group. That was up from a decade earlier, when 45 percent of associates were women and 22 percent people of color.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The numbers get tougher when you look at the partner level. About 29 percent of partners were women in 2024 and 13 percent people of color. A decade earlier, those figures were 21 percent and 7 percent.<\/p>\n

Big Law pushed to improve its diversity efforts after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, spending tens of millions on diversity consultants and scholarships and working with organizations to help bring in more diverse employees.<\/p>\n

Not all of those attempts were successful, partners at law firms say. Internally and publicly, there have been debates over the costs and efficacy of these programs.<\/p>\n

The pullback.<\/strong> After the 2023 Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action in U.S. schools made corporate D.E.I. programs vulnerable to legal challenges<\/a>, firms began withdrawing. Trump\u2019s election and subsequent Big Law scrutiny have put these efforts into overdrive.<\/p>\n

Some firms say they no longer provide clients racial and gender breakdowns that are often part of a pitch process. Others are no longer holding diversity-focused events. Many are scraping their websites of D.E.I. language.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Karp\u2019s deal with Trump may make it easier for firms to strike a similar deal or further expedite the D.E.I. pullback, lawyers say. (\u201cD.E.I. will just have to wait four years,\u201d one partner told DealBook.)<\/p>\n

But pausing won\u2019t come without backlash: An associate at Skadden said in a firmwide email on Thursday that she was putting in her conditional resignatio<\/a>n unless the firm came up with a \u201csatisfactory response\u201d to the current moment.<\/p>\n

It all raises big questions for SEO. <\/strong>Unlike some recent D.E.I. initiatives, SEO is part of the Wall Street fabric.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s alumni work in the highest echelons of corporate America. They include Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal News Group; Joseph Bae, a co-C.E.O. of KKR; and Frank Baker, a co-founder of Siris Capital.<\/p>\n

And its supporters span the political divide. They include the Citadel founder Ken Griffin, who voted for Trump in 2024<\/a>, and Frank Bisignano, Trump\u2019s initial pick to lead the Social Security Administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It would be \u201cvery emotional\u201d if SEO went away, Braswell told DealBook, stressing that he believed the organization would get through any pressure it faced.<\/p>\n

For now, SEO\u2019s efforts remain unchanged. Its class of 186 is expected to start their legal internships in mid-May. <\/p>\n

\u2014 Lauren Hirsch<\/em><\/p>\n