{"id":115161,"date":"2025-04-16T13:02:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T21:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/04\/16\/associates-at-kirkland-and-latham-latest-to-quit-biglaw-gigs-because-of-cowardly-deals-with-trump\/"},"modified":"2025-04-16T13:02:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T21:02:36","slug":"associates-at-kirkland-and-latham-latest-to-quit-biglaw-gigs-because-of-cowardly-deals-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/04\/16\/associates-at-kirkland-and-latham-latest-to-quit-biglaw-gigs-because-of-cowardly-deals-with-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Associates At Kirkland And Latham Latest To Quit Biglaw Gigs Because Of Cowardly Deals With Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the number of Biglaw capitulations<\/a> to the Trump administration pile up, so too do the number<\/a> of principled resignations<\/a> from rank-and-file attorneys who cannot abide<\/a> their firms\u2019 decision to play ball with authoritarianism. Whaddya know \u2014 some folks take that oath to uphold the rule of law pretty seriously!<\/p>\n

The latest round of take-this-job-and-shove-it moments couched in constitutional maxims arrives from Sam Wong, a now former Latham associate in the energy regulation, climate, and environmental law group, who posted his departure email on LinkedIn<\/a>. He writes, \u201cI fear jumping into the unknown. But I fear more staying and being complicit or participating in this administration\u2019s consolidation of power. The biggest victims of which are not would never have been us\u2014the most fortunate and privileged\u2014but those who cannot protect themselves from actual harm.\u201d And notes that \u201cFreedom and democracy have always come at a cost; if this is in part mine, I am willing to pay it.\u201d Pretty powerful stuff.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not the only stand being made by Biglaw associates. Jacqui Pittman, a former investment funds associate at Kirkland, also publicized her resignation on LinkedIn<\/a>. Pittman writes that the decision to leave the firm is not one she had planned on, \u201cWhile I had hoped to stay and grow at K & E, I can no longer be complacent or ignore the truth of what\u2019s happening for the sake of temporary comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she \u2014 gently \u2014 encourages others to follow her lead.<\/p>\n

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I know that many of you feel similarly after today\u2019s announcement. As a gentle reminder, we are all uniquely positioned as lawyers to advocate for others, and individual voices hold weight even in the most powerful spaces. You are a group of adept critical thinkers that confront difficult situations each day. I\u2019d encourage everyone to pause and leverage the same skills to audit your own decisions in the coming days.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You can read both Pittman\u2019s and Wong\u2019s resignation letters below. Something tells me they won\u2019t be the last in Biglaw to quit over these deals. If you want to share other Biglaw resignations you can email us<\/a>\u00a0or text us (646-820-8477). All submissions are kept anonymous. <\/p>\n

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The post Associates At Kirkland And Latham Latest To Quit Biglaw Gigs Because Of Cowardly Deals With Trump<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

As the number of Biglaw capitulations<\/a> to the Trump administration pile up, so too do the number<\/a> of principled resignations<\/a> from rank-and-file attorneys who cannot abide<\/a> their firms\u2019 decision to play ball with authoritarianism. Whaddya know \u2014 some folks take that oath to uphold the rule of law pretty seriously!<\/p>\n

The latest round of take-this-job-and-shove-it moments couched in constitutional maxims arrives from Sam Wong, a now former Latham associate in the energy regulation, climate, and environmental law group, who posted his departure email on LinkedIn<\/a>. He writes, \u201cI fear jumping into the unknown. But I fear more staying and being complicit or participating in this administration\u2019s consolidation of power. The biggest victims of which are not would never have been us\u2014the most fortunate and privileged\u2014but those who cannot protect themselves from actual harm.\u201d And notes that \u201cFreedom and democracy have always come at a cost; if this is in part mine, I am willing to pay it.\u201d Pretty powerful stuff.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not the only stand being made by Biglaw associates. Jacqui Pittman, a former investment funds associate at Kirkland, also publicized her resignation on LinkedIn<\/a>. Pittman writes that the decision to leave the firm is not one she had planned on, \u201cWhile I had hoped to stay and grow at K & E, I can no longer be complacent or ignore the truth of what\u2019s happening for the sake of temporary comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she \u2014 gently \u2014 encourages others to follow her lead.<\/p>\n

\n

I know that many of you feel similarly after today\u2019s announcement. As a gentle reminder, we are all uniquely positioned as lawyers to advocate for others, and individual voices hold weight even in the most powerful spaces. You are a group of adept critical thinkers that confront difficult situations each day. I\u2019d encourage everyone to pause and leverage the same skills to audit your own decisions in the coming days.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You can read both Pittman\u2019s and Wong\u2019s resignation letters below. Something tells me they won\u2019t be the last in Biglaw to quit over these deals. If you want to share other Biglaw resignations you can email us<\/a>\u00a0or text us (646-820-8477). All submissions are kept anonymous. <\/p>\n

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As the number of Biglaw capitulations to the Trump administration pile up, so too do the number of principled resignations from rank-and-file attorneys who cannot abide their firms\u2019 decision to play ball with authoritarianism. Whaddya know \u2014 some folks take that oath to uphold the rule of law pretty seriously! The latest round of take-this-job-and-shove-it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":115144,"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-115161","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\/04\/kirkland-resignation-1024x425-0TVMru.jpeg?fit=1024%2C425&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115161","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=115161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}