Skadden Foundation Chief Quits in Wake of Firm’s Trump Deal (2)

Kathleen Rubenstein, the Skadden Foundation’s executive director, resigned from the public interest law organization two months after the firm behind it struck a deal with President Donald Trump.

“My hope is that Skadden charts a path that respects the rule of law and honors the core values of the Skadden Foundation,” Rubenstein said Wednesday in a post on LinkedIn.

The foundation funds a prestigious fellowship program aimed at helping new attorneys launch careers in public interest law. Rubenstein had been in the position since 2019, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Wall Street’s Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on March 28 struck a deal with Trump as the president targeted firms with punitive executive orders over ties to lawyers he perceives as enemies. The deal guaranteed $100 million in free legal services on causes of interest to the firm and the White House.

Skadden, which has long touted the fellowships as part of the firm’s culture, also made commitments on behalf of the Skadden Foundation. The firm pledged to include politically conservative participants in the fellowship program and dedicate at least five spots to projects like “ensuring fairness” in the justice system and fighting antisemitism.

The current “moment in time” requires more support of public interest lawyers, Rubenstein said, and demands the same “urgency and courage” as shown by the fellows it supports.

Skadden hasn’t “risen to that challenge,” she said. “When they do, they’ll preserve and build on the Skadden Foundation’s unparalleled legacy.”

The foundation on Wednesday announced Susan Plum, who has worked for the foundation for more than three decades and previously served as director of the organization, as its interim executive director.

“We recognize that maintaining a broad, nonpartisan approach in an increasingly polarized climate is more difficult than ever and some believe it runs counter to the Foundation’s purpose and values,” Plum said in a LinkedIn post. “We fundamentally disagree. In fact, the opposite is true. This moment is precisely when the Foundation must adhere to its core foundational principle of transcending division to enable the Fellows’ work where it is needed most.”

The Skadden Foundation in a statement said it was “thrilled” to have Plum return to a leadership role in the organization, noting she collaborated with founder Joe Flom at its inception.

“We are grateful for Kathleen’s contributions as Executive Director over the past six years and wish her the best in her future endeavors,” the statement said.

Rubenstein did not immediately respond to a message sent through LinkedIn.

The Skadden Foundation, founded in 1988, awards two-year grants for 25 to 30 recent law school graduates each year. Fellows partner with nonprofit organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and work on issues including LGBT+, reproductive, and immigrant rights.

Rubenstein earned a Skadden fellowship in 2010 and later worked in New York City government roles before joining the foundation.

The 2025 fellowships offered a base salary of $65,000 a year. Skadden scrubbed mentions of past fellows and their pro bono projects from its website following Trump’s announcement of the deal with the firm. Past fellows include New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (D) and Delaware Judge Noel Primos.

Past Skadden fellows criticized the Trump deal. One alumnus told Bloomberg Law the law firm had “given up on the rule of law in a fair and free society.”

Rubenstein’s resignation adds to the public fallout for Skadden. Like the eight other firms that struck deals with Trump, the firm has suffered from professional backlash.

Those firms, which together pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services for the administration, have seen associates leave while criticizing the deals. A Skadden lawyer who departed in March, Rachel Cohen, said the firm was headed down a “craven path” by negotiating with Trump.

Few high-profile partners have publicly criticized their firms’ deals, but signs of broader unease are emerging. A group of prominent litigators last week departed Paul Weiss, the first firm to strike a deal with Trump.

Some clients have quietly moved work away from those firms and expressed resignations about working with firms that weren’t willing to defend themselves against the administration, the Wall Street Journal reported this week.

Four law firms opted to fight Trump’s executive orders targeting them. Three of the firms—Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale—won permanent injunctions barring enforcement of the orders. A fourth firm, Susman Godfrey, won a temporary reprieve and has asked a judge to permanently bar the order.

— Tatyana Monnay contributed reporting for this article.