Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a two-page letter to 20 large corporate law firms — 13 with operations in Texas — seeking information about their diversity and inclusion initiatives related to their hiring and promotion efforts that Paxton alleges may have violated state and federal laws regarding discrimination.
The letter by Paxton, cosigned by 11 other state attorneys general, cites the March 17 letter sent by the new acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that demands that the law firms provide 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 10-page EEOC letter also instructs law firms to “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 EEOC letter demands that the 20 law firms respond with answers by April 15. In his piggyback email sent Thursday, Paxton stated that he wants to be copied on their replies to the federal government.
“The blatantly illegal employment discrimination perpetuated by law firms and other businesses under un-American DEI ideology must be brought to an immediate and permanent end,” Paxton wrote in the letter. “I am leading the charge at the state level to support President Trump’s efforts to end this insanity and restore equal treatment. Employers should look at qualifications, not quotas, in their hiring decisions.”
None of the 20 corporate law firms targeted by the letters are headquartered in Texas, but 13 of the firms — 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 — have offices in Austin, Dallas or Houston.
The Texas Lawbook reached out to several law firms for comment and has not received a response.