The first few months of the second Trump administration have found law firms traversing uncharted and stormy waters. Between executive orders, threats, and demands on how firms must conduct their hiring practices, it's led to stark differences in reactions.
Some firms have agreed to the new terms and offered millions in free legal work for the federal government, while others have chosen to fight the targeted orders and their perceived discrimination in the courts. Hundreds of others have fallen somewhere in the middle.
A group of law students at Georgetown felt that those studying toward a legal career should know where Big Law and other firms stood. The resulting spreadsheet lists the positions held by over 850 firms on the demands of the new administration. It's having an effect on where law students are applying for employment and internships. The firms have noticed.
A Simple Yet Effective Tool
After the results of the 2024 presidential election, students at Georgetown Law school who shared concerns about how the legal profession might be affected by the incoming administration began a texting chain. It morphed into an effective grassroots campaign having a profound effect on both law students and law firms through an Excel spreadsheet titled, "Legal Industry Responses to Fascist Attacks Tracker."
As of April 25, 2025, the spreadsheet listed over 850 firms of varying size. In addition to links to each firm's decision about how to handle the Trump administration's demands to legal professionals and how their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies changed or remained the same, the group opted for categories with titles that pull no punches. Each firm is classified under one of the following: Caved to Administration; Complying in Advance; Other Negative Action; Stood Up Against Administration's Actions; and No Response.
The majority of the firms are in the Stood Up category, reflective of the hundreds that signed an amicus brief in support of Perkins Coie. The firm was targeted in a Trump executive order and is currently litigating to get it struck down in court.
Firms in the Caved to Administration category reflect the law offices that agreed to all of the government's demands and offered millions worth of pro bono legal work on behalf of the Trump administration. These include noted Washington firms such as Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden Arps, Latham & Arkham, and the first to bend the knee, Paul, Weiss.
Having Second Thoughts
The students were shocked at how quickly their effort spread and the support they received for what they were doing. Reports of students refusing job offers and skipping interviews from firms listed under Caved to Administration began surfacing. A small focus law group of students and alumni at Georgetown cancelled a recruiting event with Skadden Arps in protest.
According to the students, law firms have been contacting the 2Ls to be added to the list, have their information updated, or request to have their classification changed.
Ways to protest continue to crop up. Rachel Cohen, an associate at Skadden Arps who resigned in protest of the firm's decision, created a toolkit for associates and law students to expand the reach of their resistance.
For the most part, those involved in the daily updating of the spreadsheet go to great lengths to protect their professional anonymity. Given the massive debt many law students are carrying by the time they graduate and the six-figure salaries or $4,000 a week summer internships larger firms can offer, refusing to interview or not applying for summer associate positions speaks loudly.
Related Resources
- How To Write a Legal Resume (FindLaw's Law Career Department)
- U.S. Law Schools (FindLaw's Choosing a Law School)
- How To Land a 1L Summer Internship (FindLaw's How To Find a Legal Job)
