{"id":115188,"date":"2025-04-16T14:38:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T22:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/04\/16\/reed-smith-puts-down-their-dei-programs-to-dodge-the-eeoc\/"},"modified":"2025-04-16T14:38:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T22:38:05","slug":"reed-smith-puts-down-their-dei-programs-to-dodge-the-eeoc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/04\/16\/reed-smith-puts-down-their-dei-programs-to-dodge-the-eeoc\/","title":{"rendered":"Reed Smith Puts Down Their DEI Programs To Dodge The EEOC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reed Smith, long recognized as a Gold Standard Firm by the Women In Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF), has done away with all of the diversity shit it professed as near and dear to its heart for the last decade or so. I\u2019d link you to them bragging<\/a> about how important<\/a> diversity is to them, but that\u2019s kind of the story here. They\u2019re pulling a K&L Gates <\/a>on all of their diversity-forward messaging. The article<\/a> praising Katy Basile for how her \u201cmentorship of the firm\u2019s Black junior attorneys earned her recognition as a \u201cTop US Advocate\u201d on EMpower\u2019s Ethnic Minority Role Model List\u201d is still up at the time I\u2019m writing this, but in the near future you may have to rely on the Wayback machine to find any proof of Reed Smith\u2019s (former) commitments to diversity. Bloomberg Law<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

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Global law firm Reed Smith is doing away with the DEI branding for hiring and promotion in response to a workplace discrimination probe by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Reed Smith will \u201cretire our DEI program,\u201d global managing partner Casey Ryan said Tuesday in a firmwide email viewed by Bloomberg Law. The firm instead \u201cwill provide offerings going forward under the banner \u2018Culture & Engagement,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you\u2019re going for a rebrand, why not lean into it and just house everything under the banner of \u201cGood Vibes\u201d or \u201cThoughts and Prayers\u201d? Stacy Hawkins, a Rutgers Law professor quoted in the article, does a great job of refocusing the reader on the fact that it doesn\u2019t really matter what these firms call their nouveau diversity attempts. Is your program \u2014 by design or consequence \u2014 geared toward the historically disenfranchised? Full stop. No? Then stop aura farming and be upfront that you\u2019re killing your DEI program because it would either cost too much to maintain or you were looking for an excuse to get rid of it anyway. If the answer is yes, prepare for the upcoming lawsuits and ask Perkins Coie or Davis Wright Tremaine to exchange notes with you. Because even if the new name for your program is facially neutral, you\u2019re still in hot water if the program benefits women and other minorities by proxy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And, for fear that the term \u201cStay Woke\u201d has lost all meaning, keep your damn eyes open. There\u2019s a lot of talk about the need to get rid of DEI programs because they are actually quota requirements that force employers to hire \u201cinferior workers\u201d, but why isn\u2019t this energy consistent whenever some highly qualified applicant gets excluded from the hiring pool? Where is this energy when decorated generals get replaced by TV show hosts? That\u2019s the thing about actual functioning meritocracies \u2014 make all the arguments you want for the inherent tendencies toward hierarchy and exclusion that arise from highly competitive talent pools, but the outcomes are only valid if the field to compete is actually<\/em> open. Bear in mind that the discourse on \u201cmerit\u201d is happening at the same time that we\u2019re seeing brilliant students and employees get their student and work visas revoked, preventing them from competing for \u201cAmerican\u201d jobs. Or while reporters who just happen to be dating a Congress member get put in a position to ask foreign leaders about outfit choices. That isn\u2019t meritocracy \u2014 that\u2019s power naturalizing its propensity to exclude members of the out group as \u201cthe way things are,\u201d which precludes discussions of equity or inclusion as they relate to<\/em> merit.<\/p>\n

That may have gotten a little heady. Reed Smith got rid of their diversity program. That\u2019s the take away. <\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: The Slippery Slope Of Ending Affirmative Action Has Moved On To Its Next Target: Women And \u2018Proxies For Diversity\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s<\/a>. \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor<\/a>, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com<\/a>\u00a0and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Reed Smith Puts Down Their DEI Programs To Dodge The EEOC<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Reed Smith, long recognized as a Gold Standard Firm by the Women In Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF), has done away with all of the diversity shit it professed as near and dear to its heart for the last decade or so. I\u2019d link you to them bragging<\/a> about how important<\/a> diversity is to them, but that\u2019s kind of the story here. They\u2019re pulling a K&L Gates <\/a>on all of their diversity-forward messaging. The article<\/a> praising Katy Basile for how her \u201cmentorship of the firm\u2019s Black junior attorneys earned her recognition as a \u201cTop US Advocate\u201d on EMpower\u2019s Ethnic Minority Role Model List\u201d is still up at the time I\u2019m writing this, but in the near future you may have to rely on the Wayback machine to find any proof of Reed Smith\u2019s (former) commitments to diversity. Bloomberg Law<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Global law firm Reed Smith is doing away with the DEI branding for hiring and promotion in response to a workplace discrimination probe by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Reed Smith will \u201cretire our DEI program,\u201d global managing partner Casey Ryan said Tuesday in a firmwide email viewed by Bloomberg Law. The firm instead \u201cwill provide offerings going forward under the banner \u2018Culture & Engagement,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you\u2019re going for a rebrand, why not lean into it and just house everything under the banner of \u201cGood Vibes\u201d or \u201cThoughts and Prayers\u201d? Stacy Hawkins, a Rutgers Law professor quoted in the article, does a great job of refocusing the reader on the fact that it doesn\u2019t really matter what these firms call their nouveau diversity attempts. Is your program \u2014 by design or consequence \u2014 geared toward the historically disenfranchised? Full stop. No? Then stop aura farming and be upfront that you\u2019re killing your DEI program because it would either cost too much to maintain or you were looking for an excuse to get rid of it anyway. If the answer is yes, prepare for the upcoming lawsuits and ask Perkins Coie or Davis Wright Tremaine to exchange notes with you. Because even if the new name for your program is facially neutral, you\u2019re still in hot water if the program benefits women and other minorities by proxy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And, for fear that the term \u201cStay Woke\u201d has lost all meaning, keep your damn eyes open. There\u2019s a lot of talk about the need to get rid of DEI programs because they are actually quota requirements that force employers to hire \u201cinferior workers\u201d, but why isn\u2019t this energy consistent whenever some highly qualified applicant gets excluded from the hiring pool? Where is this energy when decorated generals get replaced by TV show hosts? That\u2019s the thing about actual functioning meritocracies \u2014 make all the arguments you want for the inherent tendencies toward hierarchy and exclusion that arise from highly competitive talent pools, but the outcomes are only valid if the field to compete is actually<\/em> open. Bear in mind that the discourse on \u201cmerit\u201d is happening at the same time that we\u2019re seeing brilliant students and employees get their student and work visas revoked, preventing them from competing for \u201cAmerican\u201d jobs. Or while reporters who just happen to be dating a Congress member get put in a position to ask foreign leaders about outfit choices. That isn\u2019t meritocracy \u2014 that\u2019s power naturalizing its propensity to exclude members of the out group as \u201cthe way things are,\u201d which precludes discussions of equity or inclusion as they relate to<\/em> merit.<\/p>\n

That may have gotten a little heady. Reed Smith got rid of their diversity program. That\u2019s the take away. <\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: The Slippery Slope Of Ending Affirmative Action Has Moved On To Its Next Target: Women And \u2018Proxies For Diversity\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s<\/a>. \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor<\/a>, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>\u00a0and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reed Smith, long recognized as a Gold Standard Firm by the Women In Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF), has done away with all of the diversity shit it professed as near and dear to its heart for the last decade or so. I\u2019d link you to them bragging about how important diversity is to them, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":115189,"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-115188","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\/Williams-150x150-fYxQQe.jpeg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115188","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=115188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}