Biglaw Firm To Pay Penalty Over Discrimination Claim

The DOJ found the firm acted in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice announced that the Biglaw firm of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, along with legal staffing company Law Resources, will pay a civil penalty to settle discrimination claims. The settlement, totaling $56,500, is for claims that Law Resources, at the direction of Arnold & Porter, refused to hire U.S. citizens with dual citizenship and non-U.S. citizens with work authorization for a document review project in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

As reported by Law.com, the claims were originated by attorney Temitope Ogunrinu. A DOJ investigation revealed dual citizens and non-citizens with work authorization were excluded from the project as a result of Arnold & Porter’s improper interpretation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. It also found that Law Resources retaliated against Ogunrinu as a result of her objection to the restriction.

Assistant attorney general Eric Dreiband made a statement about the settlement:

“The United States of America is the land of opportunity, and the United States government remains committed fully to the fundamental principle that in this country, all people authorized by law to work should be able to pursue happiness by earning a living without suffering the indignity of discrimination because of where they came from,” assistant attorney general Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “Our law protects this ideal in many ways, including by prohibiting unlawful citizenship status restrictions in hiring.”

Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer said the following about the case:

“This case involves a single incident where the firm mistakenly provided a third-party vendor inaccurate information about the criteria for selecting contractors for a document review,” the firm said in a statement. “As soon as this inadvertent mistake was brought to our attention, the Firm took steps to prevent it from happening again. Additionally, we cooperated fully with the IER in resolving the matter.”

And, as Dreiband went on to say, “We look forward to working with Law Resources and Arnold & Porter to ensure their hiring procedures fully comply with the Immigration and Nationality Act’s prohibition against citizenship status discrimination in employment.”

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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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