{"id":152484,"date":"2026-05-20T14:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/05\/20\/susman-godfrey-continues-dei-scholarship-program-as-other-biglaw-firms-flinch-amid-intensifying-political-attacks\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:45:10","slug":"susman-godfrey-continues-dei-scholarship-program-as-other-biglaw-firms-flinch-amid-intensifying-political-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/05\/20\/susman-godfrey-continues-dei-scholarship-program-as-other-biglaw-firms-flinch-amid-intensifying-political-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Susman Godfrey Continues DEI Scholarship Program As Other Biglaw Firms Flinch Amid Intensifying Political Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even as the Trump administration continues its broader campaign against diversity initiatives in higher education and the legal profession, Susman Godfrey doesn\u2019t appear interested in backing down.<\/p>\n

The litigation firm has announced<\/a> the 25 recipients of this year\u2019s Susman Godfrey Prize, which awards $5,000 to first- and second-year law students of color who have demonstrated academic excellence and overall achievement. The program, now in its sixth year, arrives at a moment when DEI-focused scholarships and pipeline initiatives are facing increasing political and legal scrutiny.<\/p>\n

That timing is hard to ignore, particularly given Susman\u2019s recent willingness to publicly defend diversity efforts while other firms and institutions have grown noticeably quieter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese exceptional law students have demonstrated focus, creativity, and, above all, a relentless commitment to excellence \u2014 all foundational principles of our firm,\u201d said co-managing partner Vineet Bhatia in a statement announcing the winners.<\/p>\n

The prize is open to students nominated by law school professors or administrators and selected through a competitive review and interview process conducted by firm lawyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prize is one of many ways we aim to support positive change in the civil trial profession,\u201d added co-managing partner Kalpana Srinivasan. \u201cWe look forward to seeing these aspiring lawyers\u2019 continued accomplishments in their legal careers, in the courtroom, and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a time when many legal institutions are carefully recalibrating how they talk about diversity efforts, Susman Godfrey is still willing to put its name \u2014 and money \u2014 behind them.<\/p>\n

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

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Susman Godfrey Continues DEI Scholarship Program As Other Biglaw Firms Flinch Amid Intensifying Political Attacks<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even as the Trump administration continues its broader campaign against diversity initiatives in higher education and the legal profession, Susman Godfrey doesn\u2019t appear interested in backing down.<\/p>\n

The litigation firm has announced<\/a> the 25 recipients of this year\u2019s Susman Godfrey Prize, which awards $5,000 to first- and second-year law students of color who have demonstrated academic excellence and overall achievement. The program, now in its sixth year, arrives at a moment when DEI-focused scholarships and pipeline initiatives are facing increasing political and legal scrutiny.<\/p>\n

That timing is hard to ignore, particularly given Susman\u2019s recent willingness to publicly defend diversity efforts while other firms and institutions have grown noticeably quieter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese exceptional law students have demonstrated focus, creativity, and, above all, a relentless commitment to excellence \u2014 all foundational principles of our firm,\u201d said co-managing partner Vineet Bhatia in a statement announcing the winners.<\/p>\n

The prize is open to students nominated by law school professors or administrators and selected through a competitive review and interview process conducted by firm lawyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prize is one of many ways we aim to support positive change in the civil trial profession,\u201d added co-managing partner Kalpana Srinivasan. \u201cWe look forward to seeing these aspiring lawyers\u2019 continued accomplishments in their legal careers, in the courtroom, and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a time when many legal institutions are carefully recalibrating how they talk about diversity efforts, Susman Godfrey is still willing to put its name \u2014 and money \u2014 behind them.<\/p>\n

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

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Susman Godfrey Continues DEI Scholarship Program As Other Biglaw Firms Flinch Amid Intensifying Political Attacks<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even as the Trump administration continues its broader campaign against diversity initiatives in higher education and the legal profession, Susman Godfrey doesn\u2019t appear interested in backing down. The litigation firm has announced the 25 recipients of this year\u2019s Susman Godfrey Prize, which awards $5,000 to first- and second-year law students of color who have demonstrated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152485,"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-152484","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\/2026\/05\/Staci-Zaretsky-v8N4eE.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152484","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=152484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}