Columbia Affiliate Sues Over Trump Law Firm DEI Deal Records (1)

A free-speech institute affiliated with Columbia University sued the Trump administration seeking records of the president’s deal making with large law firms that resulted in several announcing rollbacks of their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia asked a federal court Thursday to force the Office of Management and Budget to comply with its Freedom of Information Act requests. The institute is seeking details related to agreements that administration officials negotiated with several law firms to curtail their DEI programs to avoid federal probes.

Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Acting Chair, Andrea Lucas, requested information from 20 major law firms about their DEI programs. The request led to at least nine of those firms announcing they would revise their DEI programs, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The targeting of Big Law is part of Trump’s broader efforts to combat corporate and university DEI programs that his administration views as illegal and discriminatory.

To escape the federal investigations, nine law firms committed to end potentially discriminatory DEI efforts such as diversity-focused hiring and to provide a combined $940 million worth of pro bono legal services to causes supported by the White House. Details on the legal services commitments or how the White House might monitor compliance were scarce in a copy of an agreement obtained by Bloomberg Law in May.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was the first law firm to strike a deal with the White House.

Other firms fought back against Trump’s efforts to target them. A federal judge blocked Trump’s order targeting Perkins Coie, for example, after the president ordered federal agencies to review the firm’s federal contracts, bar its attorneys from federal buildings, and revoke their security clearances. The court’s decision is pending appeal.

The Knight Institute filed an open records request in May for documents and information related to the deals struck with law firms and communications leading up to those agreements. The OMB failed to respond before its deadline 20 days after receiving the request and still hasn’t provided a response, apart from an automated message acknowledging it was received, according to the lawsuit.

Deanna Paul at Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP represents the Knight institute.

Representatives of the OMB and the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University v. OMB, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:25-cv-08783, 10/23/25.