Big Law’s Diversity Reckoning Fizzles as EEOC Ends Investigation

A US agency said Monday it has ended an investigation of possible Big Law discrimination in hiring without action, acknowledging that most firms failed to comply with data requests.

The time for law firms to respond to data requests has lapsed and the matter is closed, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a court filing. A non-profit that represented law students that sued the agency over the data requests declared victory.

“This case is proof that litigation works,” Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, said in a statement. The EEOC filing that said the probe was over was in response to the lawsuit.

The agency’s closing of the investigation is an example of how Trump administration actions against law firms, after beginning with great fanfare, can end without action. District judges last year struck down four executive orders aiming to punish four big law firms for lawfare, though the Justice Department has appealed.

The EEOC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The commission on March 17, 2025 sent letters to 20 law firms requesting hiring and contact information for all law students or attorneys who applied for jobs since 2019. Firms that got letters are among the biggest in the world, including Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

“The EEOC is prepared to root out discrimination anywhere it may rear its head,” Chair Andrea Lucas, who was acting at that time, said in a statement that day. “No one is above the law—and certainly not the private bar.”

Firms Answer

Big Law firms responded to the letter in various ways. Goodwin Procter handed over parts of the requested information and told the EEOC it suspended its relationships with some diversity programs.

A group of firms including Kirkland, Latham, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and A&O Shearman settled with the Trump administration and the EEOC. The terms of that settlement weren’t disclosed.

Perkins Coie declined to disclose any information before receiving a final ruling in their lawsuit contesting Trump’s punitive executive order against the firm.

Still, the administration hasn’t ended all diversity actions against law firms. Federal Trade Commission chairman Andrew Ferguson sent a January 30 letter warning more than 40 Big Law firms of “serious concerns” about their participation in an incubator’s diversity program.

And the Trump administration has achieved some results in going after law firms. Nine Big Law operators pledged $940 million in legal services to the administration last year after President Donald Trump threatened some of them with executive orders.

The case is DOE 1 et al v. EEOC et al , D.D.C., 1:25-cv-01124, 4/15/25