Gibson Dunn Changes Diversity Award Criteria as Firms Face Suits

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher changed the eligibility criteria for its diversity scholarships, becoming at least the second major law firm to take the step as rivals face lawsuits targeting similar programs.

The firm’s $50,000 diversity and inclusion scholarship goes to students “who have demonstrated resilience and excellence on their path toward a career in law,” under the new language, which is a change from “students who identify with an underrepresented group,” according to the archival Wayback Machine website. The firm declined to comment on the timing or reasoning for the change.

“Our program has always been—and remains—open to all law students who demonstrate a commitment to diversity in the profession,” said Zakiyyah Salim-Williams , Gibson Dunn’s chief diversity officer.

Gibson Dunn joins Morrison & Foerster in distancing its programming language from mentioning historical underrepresentation in eligibility criteria. The American Alliance for Equal Rights sued Morrison & Foerster and Perkins Coie in August, alleging that the firms’ diversity fellowships are unlawful.

Paul Weiss Continues Raid on Kirkland & Ellis in London and US

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is picking up more partners from Kirkland & Ellis and Linklaters as it expands its private equity practice in London, New York and its new office in Los Angeles.

The moves cap off a major hiring raid by the New York-founded firm of its rival. Paul Weiss picked up star debt finance lawyer Neel Sachdev and partners Kanesh Balasubramaniam , Matthew Merkle and Deirdre Jones in London as well as Eric Wedel in New York last month.

Kirkland private equity partners Roger Johnson and Andreas Philipson , tax partners Timothy Lowe and Cian O’Connor and Linklaters’ corporate partner William Aitken-Davies are joining Sachdev in London, who will co-lead the office for Paul Weiss and will serve as co-head of its global finance and capital markets practice.

Stateside, Wedel is being joined by Kirkland partners Ben Steadman , Matthew Leist and Caroline Epstein who join the firm’s corporate department in New York and its new office in Los Angeles. Wedel, whose clients have included Warburg Pincus, KKR, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, will lead the new office and will also serve as co-chair of the firm’s global finance and capital markets practice.

Opinion: Racial Stereotypes’ Use May Doom Some Employers’ DEI Initiatives

Read more from Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP 's Amber Rogers and Meredith Mills Gregston .

The Supreme Court’s recent decision striking affirmative action programs at two universities put a spotlight on employers’ need to avoid categories that could be deemed racial stereotypes. Businesses need to examine their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to ensure that racial stereotypes aren’t driving their definitions of DEI.

Racial stereotypes involve exaggerated and constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share given characteristics. Stereotyping based on race eliminates the ability to take into account individual differences and places a sheen of generalization over entire groups of people with the assumption that they all think and act alike.

Racial stereotypes arise in many contexts, but within the employment sphere, DEI initiatives have the potential—sometimes inadvertently—to implicate racial stereotypes in a negative manner.

The text above does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

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