Florida Ends Outside Counsel Engagements with Firms Running DEI

Florida won’t accept any law firm that engages in sustainability or diversity initiatives to serve as outside counsel for the state, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Tuesday.

Uthmeier’s office said it won’t engage with private law firms that use diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or environmental social governance (ESG) standards, effective immediately, according to its policy memorandum. Disqualifying practices include firms that achieve Mansfield Certification, run diversity fellowships and mentorship programs, or hold membership with the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance, the memo said.

“Law firms that have historically promoted or engaged in the illegal and immoral social engineering under the ‘ESG’ brand will no longer be considered eligible for state work, absent some demonstrated, permanent change in behavior,” the memo said.

The announcement came shortly after Uthmeier and attorneys general from 11 other Republican-led states demanded that a group of 20 law firms disclose their DEI policies to ensure compliance with anti-discrimination laws. Uthmeier said in his memo that diversity programs flout commitments to equal justice.

The Florida Attorney General’s Office will immediately begin review of existing outside counsel engagements to assess compliance with its policy, and it won’t approve engagements with law firms that aren’t in compliance, the memo said.

“Both law firms and Corporate America should now be on notice that such discriminatory policies and commitments likely foreclose opportunities to secure government contracts,” Uthmeier’s memo said. “Those who have entertained and promoted these policies have, in my view, violated the public trust and the duties law firms owe to the State and its agencies as clients.”

The policy also coincides with the Trump administration’s purge of DEI programs in the federal government. The crackdown has reverberated outside of Washington—investors have brought fewer pro-ESG proposals to annual meetings year-over-year, and schools like Harvard University and Columbia University are facing funding freezes over their social programs.