{"id":123056,"date":"2025-06-16T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/16\/skadden-fellowship-sells-out-gets-rid-of-commitments-theyve-championed-since-1988\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T08:00:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T16:00:46","slug":"skadden-fellowship-sells-out-gets-rid-of-commitments-theyve-championed-since-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/16\/skadden-fellowship-sells-out-gets-rid-of-commitments-theyve-championed-since-1988\/","title":{"rendered":"Skadden Fellowship Sells Out, Gets Rid Of Commitments They\u2019ve Championed Since 1988"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Skadden Fellowships have been a pretty big deal for the last 37 years. Fellows have done a lot of good over the years, improving legal services for the poor and encouraging economic independence being chief among them. They\u2019ve worked for programs like the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund<\/a>, Immigration and Disability Rights projects<\/a>, and the LGBTQ & HIV Project at the ACLU in New York, NY<\/a>. Nice while it lasted, huh?<\/p>\n

The writing has been on the wall since the firm bent the knee<\/a> to an administration that thinks vaccines and due process are woke nonsense. Kathleen Rubenstein recently resigned<\/a> from her position of Executive Director of the Skadden Foundation, sharing that she\u2019d rather not endorse actions that [she] believe[s] will undermine its mission. Susan Plum quickly took over as Skadden\u2019s interim executive director and she appears to share none of those qualms. Reuters<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

The Skadden Foundation, a public interest law fellowship program entirely funded by law firm Skadden Arps, has altered its application criteria to remove language related to racial justice and other topics that became flashpoints for U.S. law firms under the Trump administration.
\u2026
The Skadden Foundation\u2019s website now includes new language, saying applicants should work at a \u201cstrong, nonpartisan host organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, quick question, what in the actual fuck is a \u201cstrong, nonpartisan host organization\u201d? The glib answer is to say \u201cwhatever host organization Trump likes,\u201d but let\u2019s take a moment to break the words down. With this administration cutting through norms and the incessant politicization of everything, what could<\/em> qualify as both strong and nonpartisan? An internship at the NAACP would get immediately sidelined as \u201ctoo woke\u201d and interning at the ACLU\u2019s LGBTQ & HIV Project wouldn\u2019t be far behind, but could you even do something \u201cneutral\u201d like advocating for voting rights, democracy or the rule of law without getting accused of supporting an anti-Trump liberal agenda? In the spirit of full transparency, I did a quick search on Google to see if there was some obvious example of a \u201cstrong nonpartisan host organization\u201d that I was just failing to think of. Here\u2019s what happened:<\/p>\n

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

Do you mean to tell me that the \u201cI make up answers machine\u201d known for just making things up couldn\u2019t even bother to make something up?<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s left of the Skadden Fellowship program after you remove all of the commitments to racial justice and equity, and stop caring about the \u201cdeep connections with or insights into the marginalized client communities [that Fellows] seek to serve? As Susan Plum would tell it, everything. In a statement posted to the Skadden Fellowship website she states that \u201c[T]he Foundation\u2019s mission has remained constant: empowering the most talented and driven public interest lawyers to serve those living in poverty across America\u201d. The language is nice, but how do you meaningfully serve those living in poverty when the guy calling the shots is the same dude who thought providing relief from a category 4 hurricane meant throwing paper towels at a crowd?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Whatever that service will look like, Skadden did a good job of making sure \u201cconservative ideas\u201d will play a role:<\/p>\n

\n

Skadden had agreed that its fellows would \u201crepresent a wide range of political views, including conservative ideals,\u201d Trump said in a March 28 post on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just so we aren\u2019t kidding ourselves, let\u2019s take a quick look at how \u201cserving those who live in poverty\u201d and \u201cconservative ideals\u201d plays out in the real world:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Lordie there is a tape: https:\/\/t.co\/9ayxRF7n0L<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ocOXoBC8VM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (@malcolmkenyatta) June 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re making $20 an hour to work at a fast food restaurant\u2026 Is that 6 figures??\u201d \u2013 Jesse Watters<\/p>\n

He\u2019s told that it is $40,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, then if your husband or wife is also there, you\u2019re making $100,000 as a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s corrected AGAIN & told the actual number is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/vpsc54AWnj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Non-rhetorical, pragmatic question: how do you \u201cserve those who live in poverty\u201d without challenging the real world policy consequences of what Republican leaders and Fox TV personalities advocate for? The prior iterations of the Skadden Fellowship program didn\u2019t have all of the answers, but they had the institutional support and funding to do some of the good work required to help people in need. Now that the firm is more committed to keeping Donald Trump happy than equity, I\u2019m not really sure what is ahead of them. As much as I\u2019d like to say good on Kathleen for resigning, the Fellowship program needs someone like her right now. Until that happens, it\u2019s just a countdown until we see a slew of Skadden Fellows working at the Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n

Skadden Law Firm Fellowship Revamps Application To Omit \u2018Racial Justice,\u2019 \u2018Equity\u2019 <\/a>[Reuters]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Director Of Prestigious Skadden Fellows Program Resigns Over Firm\u2019s Pro Bono Payola Deal With Trump<\/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 . \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,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Skadden Fellowship Sells Out, Gets Rid Of Commitments They\u2019ve Championed Since 1988<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Skadden Fellowships have been a pretty big deal for the last 37 years. Fellows have done a lot of good over the years, improving legal services for the poor and encouraging economic independence being chief among them. They\u2019ve worked for programs like the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund<\/a>, Immigration and Disability Rights projects<\/a>, and the LGBTQ & HIV Project at the ACLU in New York, NY<\/a>. Nice while it lasted, huh?<\/p>\n

The writing has been on the wall since the firm bent the knee<\/a> to an administration that thinks vaccines and due process are woke nonsense. Kathleen Rubenstein recently resigned<\/a> from her position of Executive Director of the Skadden Foundation, sharing that she\u2019d rather not endorse actions that [she] believe[s] will undermine its mission. Susan Plum quickly took over as Skadden\u2019s interim executive director and she appears to share none of those qualms. Reuters<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

The Skadden Foundation, a public interest law fellowship program entirely funded by law firm Skadden Arps, has altered its application criteria to remove language related to racial justice and other topics that became flashpoints for U.S. law firms under the Trump administration.
\u2026
The Skadden Foundation\u2019s website now includes new language, saying applicants should work at a \u201cstrong, nonpartisan host organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, quick question, what in the actual fuck is a \u201cstrong, nonpartisan host organization\u201d? The glib answer is to say \u201cwhatever host organization Trump likes,\u201d but let\u2019s take a moment to break the words down. With this administration cutting through norms and the incessant politicization of everything, what could<\/em> qualify as both strong and nonpartisan? An internship at the NAACP would get immediately sidelined as \u201ctoo woke\u201d and interning at the ACLU\u2019s LGBTQ & HIV Project wouldn\u2019t be far behind, but could you even do something \u201cneutral\u201d like advocating for voting rights, democracy or the rule of law without getting accused of supporting an anti-Trump liberal agenda? In the spirit of full transparency, I did a quick search on Google to see if there was some obvious example of a \u201cstrong nonpartisan host organization\u201d that I was just failing to think of. Here\u2019s what happened:<\/p>\n

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

Do you mean to tell me that the \u201cI make up answers machine\u201d known for just making things up couldn\u2019t even bother to make something up?<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s left of the Skadden Fellowship program after you remove all of the commitments to racial justice and equity, and stop caring about the \u201cdeep connections with or insights into the marginalized client communities [that Fellows] seek to serve? As Susan Plum would tell it, everything. In a statement posted to the Skadden Fellowship website she states that \u201c[T]he Foundation\u2019s mission has remained constant: empowering the most talented and driven public interest lawyers to serve those living in poverty across America\u201d. The language is nice, but how do you meaningfully serve those living in poverty when the guy calling the shots is the same dude who thought providing relief from a category 4 hurricane meant throwing paper towels at a crowd?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Whatever that service will look like, Skadden did a good job of making sure \u201cconservative ideas\u201d will play a role:<\/p>\n

\n

Skadden had agreed that its fellows would \u201crepresent a wide range of political views, including conservative ideals,\u201d Trump said in a March 28 post on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just so we aren\u2019t kidding ourselves, let\u2019s take a quick look at how \u201cserving those who live in poverty\u201d and \u201cconservative ideals\u201d plays out in the real world:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Lordie there is a tape: https:\/\/t.co\/9ayxRF7n0L<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ocOXoBC8VM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (@malcolmkenyatta) June 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re making $20 an hour to work at a fast food restaurant\u2026 Is that 6 figures??\u201d \u2013 Jesse Watters<\/p>\n

He\u2019s told that it is $40,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, then if your husband or wife is also there, you\u2019re making $100,000 as a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s corrected AGAIN & told the actual number is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/vpsc54AWnj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Non-rhetorical, pragmatic question: how do you \u201cserve those who live in poverty\u201d without challenging the real world policy consequences of what Republican leaders and Fox TV personalities advocate for? The prior iterations of the Skadden Fellowship program didn\u2019t have all of the answers, but they had the institutional support and funding to do some of the good work required to help people in need. Now that the firm is more committed to keeping Donald Trump happy than equity, I\u2019m not really sure what is ahead of them. As much as I\u2019d like to say good on Kathleen for resigning, the Fellowship program needs someone like her right now. Until that happens, it\u2019s just a countdown until we see a slew of Skadden Fellows working at the Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n

Skadden Law Firm Fellowship Revamps Application To Omit \u2018Racial Justice,\u2019 \u2018Equity\u2019 <\/a>[Reuters]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Director Of Prestigious Skadden Fellows Program Resigns Over Firm\u2019s Pro Bono Payola Deal With Trump<\/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 . \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,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Skadden Fellowship Sells Out, Gets Rid Of Commitments They\u2019ve Championed Since 1988<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Skadden Fellowships have been a pretty big deal for the last 37 years. Fellows have done a lot of good over the years, improving legal services for the poor and encouraging economic independence being chief among them. They\u2019ve worked for programs like the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Immigration and Disability Rights projects, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":122918,"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-123056","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\/06\/Chris-Williams-2025-SSlaHl.jpeg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123056","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=123056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}