Demand law schools ban the 9-Big Law sell-out firms from campus recruiting efforts.
The Issue
In February of 2025, Trump issued an unconstitutional executive order targeting law firms that he felt were challenging his regime. Nine of the nation's leading law firms yielded to Trump, making deals with the administration to cut their DEI programs, and pledging over ONE BILLION DOLLARS of legal services, violating state, federal, and professional laws. Law Schools are still fostering relationships with these known sell-out firms, hosting them on campus for job fairs and promoting them to students.
Latham & Watkins, along with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, A&O Shearman, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, Kirkland & Ellis, Millbank, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, all bent the knee to Trump.
We must show our schools that unlike these firms, we cannot be bought. We will NOT allow these firms to take our best and brightest.
The State Bar of California, Washington, and Oregon all filed this Amicus brief in the successful support of firms opposing Trump’s order stating, “Simply put, such partisanship is not permitted in our representative republic, where an independent bar with strong protections for association, speech, and petitioning represents ‘the very foundation of constitutional government.’” The standout firms who won in opposition to the order were Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Wilmer Hale, and Susman Godfrey. ) https://www.calbar.ca.gov/sites/default/files/portals/0/documents/State-Bar-Amicus-Brief-Filed.pdf
So why haven’t the other firms pulled out of their agreements with Trump?
They are sending a clear message; they don’t care about the 1st Amendment, they don’t care about the rule of law, they don’t care about the independence of the profession, and they don’t care about legal ethics. We need to send a clear message back to them: get off our campus.
UC LAW SF’s own Code of Ethics requires it to, “[...]conduct itself with the highest degree of integrity and honesty in all of its dealings.” Fostering these relationships is antithetical to this code. The future of legal ethics and the quality of legal training fundamentally depends on the calibre of individuals and organizations that we allow to engage with and shape law students' perspectives. Allowing these firms to recruit on campuses not only exposes students to disruptive ideologies but also indirectly endorses practices that contradict the essential principles of law: fairness, justice, and ethical representation.
We urge universities to take a principled stance by banning campus recruitment activities from firms that have visibly compromised the Constitution and their professional duties in their dealings with the Trump Administration. In doing so, they will protect and uphold the highest standards of legal education and ensure that students are presented with role models of integrity and justice.
Sign this petition to show your support for ethical transparency and help safeguard the foundational ethics of our legal education!
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The Issue
In February of 2025, Trump issued an unconstitutional executive order targeting law firms that he felt were challenging his regime. Nine of the nation's leading law firms yielded to Trump, making deals with the administration to cut their DEI programs, and pledging over ONE BILLION DOLLARS of legal services, violating state, federal, and professional laws. Law Schools are still fostering relationships with these known sell-out firms, hosting them on campus for job fairs and promoting them to students.
Latham & Watkins, along with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, A&O Shearman, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, Kirkland & Ellis, Millbank, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, all bent the knee to Trump.
We must show our schools that unlike these firms, we cannot be bought. We will NOT allow these firms to take our best and brightest.
The State Bar of California, Washington, and Oregon all filed this Amicus brief in the successful support of firms opposing Trump’s order stating, “Simply put, such partisanship is not permitted in our representative republic, where an independent bar with strong protections for association, speech, and petitioning represents ‘the very foundation of constitutional government.’” The standout firms who won in opposition to the order were Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Wilmer Hale, and Susman Godfrey. ) https://www.calbar.ca.gov/sites/default/files/portals/0/documents/State-Bar-Amicus-Brief-Filed.pdf
So why haven’t the other firms pulled out of their agreements with Trump?
They are sending a clear message; they don’t care about the 1st Amendment, they don’t care about the rule of law, they don’t care about the independence of the profession, and they don’t care about legal ethics. We need to send a clear message back to them: get off our campus.
UC LAW SF’s own Code of Ethics requires it to, “[...]conduct itself with the highest degree of integrity and honesty in all of its dealings.” Fostering these relationships is antithetical to this code. The future of legal ethics and the quality of legal training fundamentally depends on the calibre of individuals and organizations that we allow to engage with and shape law students' perspectives. Allowing these firms to recruit on campuses not only exposes students to disruptive ideologies but also indirectly endorses practices that contradict the essential principles of law: fairness, justice, and ethical representation.
We urge universities to take a principled stance by banning campus recruitment activities from firms that have visibly compromised the Constitution and their professional duties in their dealings with the Trump Administration. In doing so, they will protect and uphold the highest standards of legal education and ensure that students are presented with role models of integrity and justice.
Sign this petition to show your support for ethical transparency and help safeguard the foundational ethics of our legal education!
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Petition created on June 24, 2026