{"id":129625,"date":"2025-08-05T15:16:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/05\/former-biglaw-associate-alleges-partner-used-racial-slur\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:16:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:16:44","slug":"former-biglaw-associate-alleges-partner-used-racial-slur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/05\/former-biglaw-associate-alleges-partner-used-racial-slur\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Biglaw Associate Alleges Partner Used Racial Slur"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late last night, a former associate took to LinkedIn<\/a> to accuse a Covington partner of calling him a racial slur. Paul Bryant, a former fifth-year corporate associate at Covington, claims that a partner engaged in this racial harassment in an effort to get Bryant to quit after he informed the firm that he \u201cwould not write SEC disclosures in support of anti-minority and anti-women based initiatives.\u201d It\u2019s not clear why the firm would try to convince someone to quit when they could simply fire them. Announcing a conscientious objection to performing firm work, while noble, provides relatively straightforward grounds for dismissal. The post says he was later fired after trying to discuss the issue further.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegations made by Mr. Bryant against the firm and its partners are categorically false and repugnant,\u201d Covington wrote in response to our inquiry about the post. \u201cThe firm will vigorously defend itself and our colleagues and intends to explore all available remedies in response to these outrageous claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since his first post, Bryant has asked for a $30 million settlement but also said he\u2019s not going to federal court and imposed a deadline of tomorrow morning<\/a> or \u201cI will solicit the help of the President, Donald J. Trump to strike an adequate deal with Covington\u2026. It is actually my faith that the Commander-In-Chief will hear of this story and provide the leverage I need to effect needed change in your system, a system which the President has rightfully began to investigate.\u201d For the record, Trump actually targeted Covington already \u2014 they didn\u2019t cave and signed the amicus brief supporting the firms fighting back. Bryant\u2019s since announced<\/a> that he\u2019s \u201chereby delegating my power of attorney\u201d to a retired Covington partner.<\/p>\n

Not sure about this strategy. While he\u2019s undoubtedly succeeded in extracting concessions from Biglaw firms, I kinda think Trump might have something to do with all those \u201canti-minority and anti-women based initiatives\u201d that corporations have started pursuing and I\u2019m positive that when he \u201cbegan to investigate\u201d Biglaw, it wasn\u2019t about making it a more welcoming workplace.<\/p>\n

But this speaks to how this story took off on social media. There\u2019s a genuine fear about this moment in Biglaw. Companies increasingly embrace discriminatory policies to appease the administration and that\u2019s the work that Biglaw attorneys are asked to paper up. Making minority and women attorneys cogs in the engine of discrimination is a cruel twist. The firms themselves \u2014 even the ones who didn\u2019t openly surrender to the administration \u2014 are destroying diversity programs, scrubbing their websites, and turning down pro bono work that clashes with the whims of a white nationalist White House. As firms jettison norms at the slightest hint of crossing the administration, there\u2019s real fear that at its core, this industry is just a place where racial slurs get tossed around and no one does anything about it.<\/p>\n

Bryant\u2019s lack of faith in his employment attorney\u2019s settlement advice and wariness of the objectivity of the federal courts resonates with anyone losing confidence in the institutions that are supposed to protect people. <\/p>\n

Whatever happened in this specific case, it says something about where we are that this post struck a chord with so many people. The damage done by the firms and clients who\u2019ve spent the last six months selling out principles for expediency has spilled over into free-floating distrust. And this profession can\u2019t thrive without baseline trust.<\/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.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Former Biglaw Associate Alleges Partner Used Racial Slur<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Late last night, a former associate took to LinkedIn<\/a> to accuse a Covington partner of calling him a racial slur. Paul Bryant, a former fifth-year corporate associate at Covington, claims that a partner engaged in this racial harassment in an effort to get Bryant to quit after he informed the firm that he \u201cwould not write SEC disclosures in support of anti-minority and anti-women based initiatives.\u201d It\u2019s not clear why the firm would try to convince someone to quit when they could simply fire them. Announcing a conscientious objection to performing firm work, while noble, provides relatively straightforward grounds for dismissal. The post says he was later fired after trying to discuss the issue further.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegations made by Mr. Bryant against the firm and its partners are categorically false and repugnant,\u201d Covington wrote in response to our inquiry about the post. \u201cThe firm will vigorously defend itself and our colleagues and intends to explore all available remedies in response to these outrageous claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since his first post, Bryant has asked for a $30 million settlement but also said he\u2019s not going to federal court and imposed a deadline of tomorrow morning<\/a> or \u201cI will solicit the help of the President, Donald J. Trump to strike an adequate deal with Covington\u2026. It is actually my faith that the Commander-In-Chief will hear of this story and provide the leverage I need to effect needed change in your system, a system which the President has rightfully began to investigate.\u201d For the record, Trump actually targeted Covington already \u2014 they didn\u2019t cave and signed the amicus brief supporting the firms fighting back. Bryant\u2019s since announced<\/a> that he\u2019s \u201chereby delegating my power of attorney\u201d to a retired Covington partner.<\/p>\n

Not sure about this strategy. While he\u2019s undoubtedly succeeded in extracting concessions from Biglaw firms, I kinda think Trump might have something to do with all those \u201canti-minority and anti-women based initiatives\u201d that corporations have started pursuing and I\u2019m positive that when he \u201cbegan to investigate\u201d Biglaw, it wasn\u2019t about making it a more welcoming workplace.<\/p>\n

But this speaks to how this story took off on social media. There\u2019s a genuine fear about this moment in Biglaw. Companies increasingly embrace discriminatory policies to appease the administration and that\u2019s the work that Biglaw attorneys are asked to paper up. Making minority and women attorneys cogs in the engine of discrimination is a cruel twist. The firms themselves \u2014 even the ones who didn\u2019t openly surrender to the administration \u2014 are destroying diversity programs, scrubbing their websites, and turning down pro bono work that clashes with the whims of a white nationalist White House. As firms jettison norms at the slightest hint of crossing the administration, there\u2019s real fear that at its core, this industry is just a place where racial slurs get tossed around and no one does anything about it.<\/p>\n

Bryant\u2019s lack of faith in his employment attorney\u2019s settlement advice and wariness of the objectivity of the federal courts resonates with anyone losing confidence in the institutions that are supposed to protect people. <\/p>\n

Whatever happened in this specific case, it says something about where we are that this post struck a chord with so many people. The damage done by the firms and clients who\u2019ve spent the last six months selling out principles for expediency has spilled over into free-floating distrust. And this profession can\u2019t thrive without baseline trust.<\/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.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late last night, a former associate took to LinkedIn to accuse a Covington partner of calling him a racial slur. Paul Bryant, a former fifth-year corporate associate at Covington, claims that a partner engaged in this racial harassment in an effort to get Bryant to quit after he informed the firm that he \u201cwould not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":129626,"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-129625","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\/08\/Headshot-300x200-EEgzQD.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129625","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=129625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}