Biglaw

Harvard Law School Students Organize #DumpKirkland Campaign Over Biglaw Employment Arbitration Agreements

The battle over Biglaw arbitration employment contracts continues...

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Time’s up, Biglaw.

Earlier this year outrage over mandatory arbitration agreements in Biglaw employment contracts hit a fevered pitch. It all started when Ian Samuel leaked on Twitter the content of Munger Tolles & Olson’s agreement that they’d asked summer associates to sign. In the face of backlash, the firm responded by backtracking on the mandatory arbitration clause for all employees. Other firms like Orrick and Skadden followed suit, changing their employment contracts with the changing times.

But the position of a handful of firms is hardly enough to hold the legal industry accountable. So a survey was sent on behalf of T14 law schools to every law firm recruiting on their campuses, asking that the firms disclose whether they require summer associates to sign mandatory arbitration agreements and nondisclosure agreements related to workplace misconduct, including but not limited to sexual harassment. The results of the survey provided essential information to law students and lateral candidates alike about the Biglaw firms, but not everyone chose to disclose the state of their mandatory arbitration agreements.

This lack of transparency is disappointing, particularly when the largest law firm by gross revenue opts out of the disclosures. But this hasn’t stopped a group of Harvard Law student activists, organized as the Pipeline Parity Project. They’ve been able to dig up the Kirkland & Ellis Employment Arbitration Contract, and as , a Harvard 2L and member of the Project, notes:

Kirkland might be trying to keep its love affair with forced arbitration a secret, but we have the receipts.

So now that they’ve revealed what’s really behind the closed door of Kirkland’s employment contract they’re asking law students to #DumpKirkland until they do away with forced arbitration agreements for all employees:

[I] f Kirkland won’t stop its forced arbitration racket—and indeed, won’t even own up to it—it’s up to us to educate ourselves and our peers and take action.

That’s why we’re asking all the law students who are headed into recruitment season this year: Don’t interview with Kirkland & Ellis until they promise to stop making any of their employees—no associate, paralegal, custodian, or contractor—sign these coercive contracts.

This is our way of saying to Kirkland & Ellis and all other employers, dump your forced arbitration agreements, or we’ll #DumpKirkland and dump you too.

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Now the ball is very much in Kirkland’s court. We — along with the rest of the legal industry — are waiting to see what you’ll do. (We reached out to Kirkland & Ellis to comment on this story, but have not heard back. We will update the story if they respond.)

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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