Biglaw Firm Sued For Revoking Offer To Arab-American Who Condemned Gaza Bombing
Firms took a broad swath when cutting ties with lawyers over Gaza... this lawsuit alleges one firm went too broad.
Immediately after Hamas attacked Israel, killing roughly 1200 people and taking over 250 hostages, an NYU law student called the attacks “necessary” and promptly lost their job at Winston & Strawn because, like most companies that aren’t Boeing, Biglaw doesn’t want a reputation for even arguably advocating murder. At least not pro bono.
In addition to being generally wrong, statements that justify killing and abducting people create a hostile work environment and firms have every right to cut ties with anyone using that rhetoric. Soon after Winston & Strawn made its move, other firms started “getting tough” on students involved with groups advocating for Palestinian rights as they positioned themselves to stand with Israel and reject violence.
From the very beginning, it was clear that law firms were playing a little too fast and loose. One of the first firms to enthusiastically jump on the firing spree realized quickly that painting with too broad a brush might get them into trouble and started backtracking from their sweeping denunciations of every law student tangentially involved with Palestinian support. As we noted at the time, several firms seemed to be hurtling toward a dangerous area where they were no longer terminating people for antisemitism and instead just firing attorneys for “making geopolitical observations while Muslim.”
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Foley & Lardner is facing a lawsuit alleging the latter. From the Washington Post:
Jinan Chehade was hired at Foley & Lardner in July but was told the night before her first day in October that the firm was revoking the job offer over statements she made on social media and during a speech at Chicago’s City Hall, her lawsuit says.
Her remarks at City Hall present a textbook case of that not-actually-a-fine-line distinction between being an apologist for violence and making a political observation. Chehade had shown up to protest a city resolution condemning the Hamas attacks but not also condemning the subsequent bombing in Gaza, which at that point had already killed almost twice as many people as the initial attack and was well on its way to killing tens of thousands more. At the event, she said that the attacks were a “natural response of 75 years of occupation and violence by Israeli forces.”
There’s a lot of daylight between calling attacks “necessary” — the Winston & Strawn situation — and saying Israeli government policy set the stage for the attacks. Israeli newspapers were pinning the blame on the Israeli government back in October, which accentuates how this can look less like the firm objecting to a problematic opinion as much as an opinion they were just uncomfortable hearing from someone with Chehade’s background.
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And that’s a distinction that can transform an employer exercising its rights into a discrimination claim.
After having rented an apartment for her new job, Foley called Chehade in the day before she was due to start and ran her through every line of her speech and a string of social media posts — some of which weren’t even by her, but by a law school group she no longer belonged to — before calling her that night and revoking her offer.
“Foley is led by our core values, which seek to foster an environment where people feel included, safe and supported,” she said. “We stand behind our decision to rescind Ms. Chehade’s employment offer as a result of the statements she made surrounding the horrendous attacks by Hamas on October 7.”
Notably, Foley does not specify to the Post which statements those would be. If the City Hall episode is any indication, the silence is out of necessity. Chehade alleges that she has only ever condemned the loss of human life and told Foley as much at their meeting.
The most chilling allegation in the complaint might be the claim that Foley questioned Chehade about her father’s job… because he works for a mosque. Not exactly a great cornerstone for building the case that this is about what she said and not who she is.
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Before the meeting ended, Chehade said, she realized the partners had already decided she would not work there and had asked her to come in as a formality.
She asked if there was a policy to monitor the opinions of attorneys at the firm and was told, “We don’t censor people except if its terrorism and inciting violence,” according to the complaint.
Bold talk for a law firm boasting a key figure in the lead up to January 6. If the firm plans to cite its experience having to cut ties with a Big Lie stalwart to justify terminating a first-year for suggesting that bombing refugee camps is also wrong, it would be one hell of a take.
Foley hasn’t answered yet, and perhaps they’ve got more problematic receipts that they decided to sit on while knowing the Washington Post was about to write up the lawsuit. It’s entirely possible. But this is exactly what we cautioned firms against in the immediate aftermath of October 7: conflating the antisemitism trying to hitch a ride on the Palestinian cause with the rest of the anti-war, pro-Palestinian rights sentiment can become discriminatory itself.
However this case turns out, it should serve as a warning to firms to be a lot more judicious and not make sweeping statements that risk crossing the line into liability for its own discriminatory conduct.
Ah.
So we’re not going to learn any lessons at all, eh?
Arab American lawyer sues firm that revoked job offer over Gaza comments [Washington Post]
Earlier: Attorney Warns Biglaw’s Antisemitism Letter Makes Lawyers Worry About Getting Fired, Gets Fired
NYU Law SBA President Brands Hamas Attacks As ‘Necessary’
Biglaw Firm Joins Hotline For Victims Of Campus Antisemitic Harassment
Attorney Goes On Pro-Hitler, Antisemitic Social Media Screed, Immediately Loses Her Job
Biglaw Firms Tell Law Schools To ‘Pls Hndle Thx’ Antisemitism
Davis Polk Rescinds Offers To T14 Law School Students For Their Controversial Statements On Israel
Elite Biglaw Firm Adopts Tougher Background Checks For New Hires Amid Campus Protests
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
