{"id":111032,"date":"2025-03-20T11:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T19:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/03\/20\/dla-piper-building-community-by-shutting-down-affinity-groups\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T11:24:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T19:24:15","slug":"dla-piper-building-community-by-shutting-down-affinity-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/03\/20\/dla-piper-building-community-by-shutting-down-affinity-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"DLA Piper Building \u2018Community\u2019 By Shutting Down Affinity Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last time we checked in on DLA Piper, they\u2019d just global-search-and-replaced the pronouns<\/a> out of every US attorney\u2019s personal email signature blocks. Non-admitted associates are mostly on the honor system to sign off as \u201cLaw Clerk\u201d \u2014 a designation with actual legal ethics implications \u2014 but PRONOUNS required top-down action. The purloined pronouns move arrived without notice and clumsily left a number of signatures with empty parentheses\u2026 a visual memorial to cowardice. Tipsters at the time reported a palpable blow to morale.<\/p>\n

So the firm decided to take it up a notch!<\/p>\n

Welcome to the DLA Piper CommunityTM<\/sup> era! That\u2019s the name of the new initiative the firm announced as they \u201cevolve from our previous diversity and inclusion initiatives.\u201d According to an email circulated by Americas Chair Frank Ryan, this evolution<\/em> means, \u201c[t]he firm will discontinue resource groups based on demographic categories, cease participation in certain external surveys, and take other steps to remain compliant with the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not evolution, that\u2019s extinction. <\/p>\n

To be clear, DLA Piper was already compliant with the law. None of this stuff is against any law. Attorneys putting pronouns in signature blocks? Legal. Affinity groups and support networks? Legal. Participating in surveys? Very legal. Even taking the most aggressive read of the Supreme Court\u2019s anti-Affirmative Action turn, there\u2019s nothing even arguably illegal about any of this stuff. The programs described in this email rank as the most benign and unobtrusive diversity initiatives imaginable. They\u2019re one step removed from just sending a bland Black History Month acknowledgement email\u2026 which, hell, might also be on the chopping block as one of undefined the \u201cother steps\u201d of the DLA Piper Community. <\/p>\n

What Ryan meant<\/em> to say is \u201ccompliant with the whims of the Trump administration.\u201d There\u2019s nothing illegal about quote-unquote DEI. To the contrary, as corporate-speak meant to bundle all the other legal obligations an employer has to women, minorities, LGBTQ folks, people with disabilities, and veterans under one umbrella, it actually more or less defines what legal compliance looks like. But the administration has threatened legal action over what it imagines DEI to be, lashing out with EEOC threats against a number of Biglaw firms already<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DLA Piper isn\u2019t looking to remain compliant with the law, they\u2019re looking to avoid getting hassled and having to be the ones who have to take the administration to court over some baseless retaliatory action.<\/p>\n

We have an inside look look at the DLA Piper leadership meeting as they discussed the option of following other firms in nuking every nod to diversity as a strategy to avoid Republican lawfare attacks:<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just ask Cooley, who got roped up in the recent spate of EEOC threats, and received this specific call out in their letter from the government:<\/p>\n

\n

However, as of March 14, 2025, Cooley\u2019s DEI Action Plan landing page is no longer available to the public. Cooley\u2019s sudden, overnight removal of its \u201cboard approved DEI plan\u201d from its public facing landing page gives me pause.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

No bad faith deed goes unpunished.<\/p>\n

Turning tail only emboldens these people because once a firm hands them an inch, they know they can extract a mile. This isn\u2019t about a \u201cBlack Lawyer Networking Lunch,\u201d but an end run around anti-discrimination laws. The administration knows it can\u2019t just wipe out that body of law, but by putting every employer in fear, they hope nature will take its course. Firms stop reporting their diversity numbers \u2014 the surveys DLA talks about \u2014 start eliminating support groups for attorneys facing unique challenges \u2014 the affinity groups \u2014 and eventually forcing firms to think twice about hiring qualified diverse candidates out of panic that they\u2019ll be forced to prove they weren\u2019t \u201cdoing DEI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, maybe this is about an evolution. But in the same way the wildebeest evolved into nature\u2019s chew toy \u2014 a lumbering animal naturally selected to get rolled by lions and pecked at by vultures while we all watch.<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>:\u00a0Biglaw Firm Scrubs Pronouns From Attorney Signatures Without Telling Anyone<\/a>
Another Firm Strips \u2018Diversity\u2019 From Website<\/a>
Biglaw Firm Quietly Begins Purging Diversity Language From Website<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post DLA Piper Building \u2018Community\u2019 By Shutting Down Affinity Groups<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last time we checked in on DLA Piper, they\u2019d just global-search-and-replaced the pronouns<\/a> out of every US attorney\u2019s personal email signature blocks. Non-admitted associates are mostly on the honor system to sign off as \u201cLaw Clerk\u201d \u2014 a designation with actual legal ethics implications \u2014 but PRONOUNS required top-down action. The purloined pronouns move arrived without notice and clumsily left a number of signatures with empty parentheses\u2026 a visual memorial to cowardice. Tipsters at the time reported a palpable blow to morale.<\/p>\n

So the firm decided to take it up a notch!<\/p>\n

Welcome to the DLA Piper CommunityTM<\/sup> era! That\u2019s the name of the new initiative the firm announced as they \u201cevolve from our previous diversity and inclusion initiatives.\u201d According to an email circulated by Americas Chair Frank Ryan, this evolution<\/em> means, \u201c[t]he firm will discontinue resource groups based on demographic categories, cease participation in certain external surveys, and take other steps to remain compliant with the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not evolution, that\u2019s extinction. <\/p>\n

To be clear, DLA Piper was already compliant with the law. None of this stuff is against any law. Attorneys putting pronouns in signature blocks? Legal. Affinity groups and support networks? Legal. Participating in surveys? Very legal. Even taking the most aggressive read of the Supreme Court\u2019s anti-Affirmative Action turn, there\u2019s nothing even arguably illegal about any of this stuff. The programs described in this email rank as the most benign and unobtrusive diversity initiatives imaginable. They\u2019re one step removed from just sending a bland Black History Month acknowledgement email\u2026 which, hell, might also be on the chopping block as one of undefined the \u201cother steps\u201d of the DLA Piper Community. <\/p>\n

What Ryan meant<\/em> to say is \u201ccompliant with the whims of the Trump administration.\u201d There\u2019s nothing illegal about quote-unquote DEI. To the contrary, as corporate-speak meant to bundle all the other legal obligations an employer has to women, minorities, LGBTQ folks, people with disabilities, and veterans under one umbrella, it actually more or less defines what legal compliance looks like. But the administration has threatened legal action over what it imagines DEI to be, lashing out with EEOC threats against a number of Biglaw firms already<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DLA Piper isn\u2019t looking to remain compliant with the law, they\u2019re looking to avoid getting hassled and having to be the ones who have to take the administration to court over some baseless retaliatory action.<\/p>\n

We have an inside look look at the DLA Piper leadership meeting as they discussed the option of following other firms in nuking every nod to diversity as a strategy to avoid Republican lawfare attacks:<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just ask Cooley, who got roped up in the recent spate of EEOC threats, and received this specific call out in their letter from the government:<\/p>\n

\n

However, as of March 14, 2025, Cooley\u2019s DEI Action Plan landing page is no longer available to the public. Cooley\u2019s sudden, overnight removal of its \u201cboard approved DEI plan\u201d from its public facing landing page gives me pause.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

No bad faith deed goes unpunished.<\/p>\n

Turning tail only emboldens these people because once a firm hands them an inch, they know they can extract a mile. This isn\u2019t about a \u201cBlack Lawyer Networking Lunch,\u201d but an end run around anti-discrimination laws. The administration knows it can\u2019t just wipe out that body of law, but by putting every employer in fear, they hope nature will take its course. Firms stop reporting their diversity numbers \u2014 the surveys DLA talks about \u2014 start eliminating support groups for attorneys facing unique challenges \u2014 the affinity groups \u2014 and eventually forcing firms to think twice about hiring qualified diverse candidates out of panic that they\u2019ll be forced to prove they weren\u2019t \u201cdoing DEI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, maybe this is about an evolution. But in the same way the wildebeest evolved into nature\u2019s chew toy \u2014 a lumbering animal naturally selected to get rolled by lions and pecked at by vultures while we all watch.<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>:\u00a0Biglaw Firm Scrubs Pronouns From Attorney Signatures Without Telling Anyone<\/a>
Another Firm Strips \u2018Diversity\u2019 From Website<\/a>
Biglaw Firm Quietly Begins Purging Diversity Language From Website<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time we checked in on DLA Piper, they\u2019d just global-search-and-replaced the pronouns out of every US attorney\u2019s personal email signature blocks. Non-admitted associates are mostly on the honor system to sign off as \u201cLaw Clerk\u201d \u2014 a designation with actual legal ethics implications \u2014 but PRONOUNS required top-down action. The purloined pronouns move […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":111033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Headshot-300x200-C9LjPV.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}