The new acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sent a 10-page letter to 20 different corporate law firms — 13 of them with operations in Texas — demanding detailed information about their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and decision making.
The letters, which are addressed to the leaders of each of the law firms, demand that they “fully identify all clients that have diversity preferences or any demographic-related requirements for matters, including but not limited to race or sex requirements for the employees staffed on their matters.”
The letter, signed by EEOC Acting Director Andrea R. Lucas, also seeks any information related to fellowships and scholarships offered by the law firms related to diversity efforts, as well as any hiring, compensation or promotions in which the firm or a recruiter working for the firm sought “black, Hispanic or female candidates, ‘diverse’ candidates, or candidates of another particular race, ethnicities, or another protected characteristic.”
The letters demand that the 20 law firms respond with answers by April 15.
No Texas-headquartered law firms were targeted in this round of letters.
Thirteen of the 20 law firms sent letters today have offices in Texas. They include A&O Shearman, Hogan Lovells, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, McDermott Will & Emery, Morgan Lewis, Morrison & Foerster, Perkins Coie, Reed Smith, Sidley Austin, Simpson Thacher, Skadden Arps and White & Case.
The Texas Lawbook reached out to several law firms for comment and has not received a response.
The letters come less than two weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order explicitly instructing the EEOC to investigate “large, influential or industry-leading law firms” for their DEI-related efforts.
One law firm noticeably absent from the list was Gibson Dunn, where Lucas worked as an associate for seven years in its Washington, D.C., office, prior to being appointed by President Trump. Lucas has served on the EEOC since 2020, when she was confirmed as a commissioner.
“As acting chair of the EEOC, I understand that our nation’s civil rights laws reject identity politics and instead focus on individual rights and equally,” Lucas wrote on her LinkedIn page. “I prioritize evenhanded enforcement of civil rights law for all Americans, including by rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.”
The EEOC’s letter to McDermott, which was founded in Chicago and now has 70 lawyers in Texas, states that “based on public statements by McDermott,” the agency is “seeking information about the firm’s employment practices.”
“I am concerned that McDermott Will & Emery’s diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, diversity, or other employment programs, policies, and practices may entail unlawful disparate treatment in terms, conditions, and privileges of employment, or unlawful limiting, segregating, and classifying based — in whole or in part — on race, sex, or other protected characteristics, in violation of Title VII” of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the letter states.
Editor’s Note: The Lawbook seeks legal experts, such as practicing lawyers or academics, to provide commentary or insight about the EEOC investigations and how the law firms being targeted should respond. Please email mark.curriden@texaslawbook.net.