![\"mandatory](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GettyImages-1084231100-300x200.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
Listen\u2026 mandatory arbitration agreements are garbage. They invariably favor established\u00a0 parties with entrenched power. That\u2019s why \u2014 even before Disney\u2019s shady attempt to use one<\/a> in a wrongful death case made headlines \u2014 the fight against them has been a focus<\/a> of progressive politics.<\/p>\nThe practice of mandatory arbitration agreements in Biglaw has also had its moment in the spotlight. Back in 2018, Munger Tolles was called out on social media for the practice<\/a>. That firm changed their policy as a result, and other firms voluntarily did away<\/a>\u00a0with the\u00a0practice<\/a>. The People\u2019s Parity Project<\/a> \u2014 an activist group for law students and new attorneys \u2014 has kept the pressure on the industry. And their tactics have proven successful<\/a>. Of course, there have been some firms that have held fast<\/a>, despite complaints.<\/p>\n But mandatory arbitration employment agreements are still controversial in the legal industry. Above the Law received information that a high-profile boutique recently made the decision to implement mandatory arbitration. The Elias Law Group, the firm founded in 2021 by Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias to advance Democratic and liberal causes, told employees on December 19th about the change in policy (which includes a class action waiver and non-disclosure agreement), and only gave folks through December 30th \u2014 over the holidays when most employees are taking a well-deserved break \u2014 to sign the agreement.<\/p>\n How\u2026 awkward. The firm that bills itself<\/a> as the one to \u201chelp progressives make change,\u201d doing something so distinctly regressive. Not to mention that firm clients have introduced legislation to ban mandatory arbitration. Maybe the Elias Law Group has more in common with Republicans than they think.<\/p>\n And the attorneys at the firm agree. The associates and counsel at the firm sent a letter to firm leadership in response to the policy change, noting their objection to the policy and particularly to the timing.<\/p>\n According to an insider at the firm, the request for a meeting with leadership about the agreements was \u201ccoldly refused.\u201d The firm went another route, per a tipster: \u201cAdopting a common union-busting tactic, management rebuffed the request for a group-wide conversation and began calling individual attorneys to ask who was organizing the resistance and to pin down who would refuse to sign the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n The initial deadline to sign the arbitration agreement has passed, and management extended the deadline to January 10th. But insiders say the firm is playing hardball to get associates and counsel on board.<\/p>\n Our annual seniority-based salary step-up is conditioned on signing the arbitration agreement. Attorneys are paid once a month at the end of the month, so we can still get our January raise if we sign by Jan 10. Staff are paid twice a month however, so anyone who did not sign by the beginning of January forfeit their raise for the first January paycheck.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Insiders at the firm report sinking morale and a deep suspicion the move will motivate attorneys who want to use their law degree to advance progressive ideals to leave the firm. Just goes to show, just because the firm gets paid to fight the good fight it doesn\u2019t mean those are the values they manage with.<\/p>\n Guess those progressive values don’t apply to the firm. The post Elite Boutique Getting Slammed By Associates Over Mandatory Arbitration Agreement appeared first on Above the Law. Listen\u2026 mandatory arbitration agreements are garbage. They invariably favor established\u00a0 parties with entrenched power. That\u2019s why \u2014 even before Disney\u2019s shady attempt to use one in a wrongful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":99425,"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":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-1084231100-3SDfpF-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99424","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"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"ELG](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ELG-arbitration-620x1059.jpeg?resize=600%2C1025&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"IMG_9563\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_9563.jpeg?resize=1080%2C1704&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n\n
\n![\"Kathryn](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"