Employees

Fired Department of Education staff invited back to work

Staff at the U.S. Department of Education, who were targeted for termination in March, this week received emails calling them back to work because of a backlog of cases.

Dec 11, 2025 11:58 AM CST

Straight white woman drops bias case against King & Spalding over its diversity fellowship

A straight white woman who sued King & Spalding over a diversity fellowship has filed a joint stipulation dropping her claims, leading a federal appeals court to dismiss her appeal.

Nov 19, 2025 12:22 PM CST

The Home Depot’s request for employee to remove ‘BLM’ letters from apron was justified, 8th Circuit rules

Special circumstances justified the Home Depot’s request for a Minneapolis-area employee to remove the letters “BLM” from his apron three months after the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a federal appeals court ruled last week.

Nov 12, 2025 10:44 AM CST

Racial gaps in hiring new lawyers persists despite strong market, study shows

The class of 2024 was the last that graduated before the Jan. 20 executive order signed by President Donald Trump that ended diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the government, making the survey “a critical benchmark,” Nikia Gray, NALP’s executive director, said in a release.

Oct 23, 2025 2:44 PM CDT

DOJ ‘more concerned with punishing’ perceived Trump enemies than public safety, fired prosecutor’s letter says

A letter taped to the door of an assistant U.S. attorney who was abruptly fired last week said a false social media post apparently led to his termination while he was in the middle of a terrorism prosecution.

Oct 8, 2025 9:04 AM CDT

How the federal judiciary will continue operations during shutdown

The federal judiciary will tap funding, such as court fee balances, to temporarily continue paid operations during the government shutdown.

Oct 2, 2025 2:40 PM CDT

Judge blocks Kari Lake from laying off over 500 Voice of America staffers

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth temporarily blocked the layoffs of more than 500 Voice of America employees, delivering a setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the United States’ international broadcasting agency.

Sep 30, 2025 10:24 AM CDT

Should there be discipline for employees’ controversial social media posts?

Updated: No First Amendment protection exists for private employees’ speech. However, after the death of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, some lawyers emphasize the importance of individually assessing workers’ controversial public statements, rather than immediate termination.

Sep 25, 2025 1:31 PM CDT

Husch Blackwell accused of using employee 401(k) contributions for months to cover operating expenses

A would-be class action lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that Husch Blackwell engaged in “a deliberate scheme” to temporarily use its employees’ retirement plan contributions for its benefit in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Sep 17, 2025 9:19 AM CDT

Perkins Coie lawyer is out of a job, apparently because of post criticizing Charlie Kirk after his shooting death

Updated: Perkins Coie has fired a lawyer for a social media post criticizing conservative political activist Charlie Kirk after his shooting death Wednesday during an appearance at a college campus event in Utah.

Sep 15, 2025 12:43 PM CDT

$675K settlement in suit against Schnader Harrison over alleged misuse of retirement funds gets preliminary OK

A federal judge in Philadelphia has preliminarily approved a $675,000 settlement in a lawsuit claiming that Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis used 401(k) contributions to fund operations and make distributions to equity partners when it suffered financial difficulties.

Aug 21, 2025 9:22 AM CDT

Judge tosses fired associate’s suit alleging WilmerHale discriminated based on his Cameroonian origin

A fired associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr won’t be able to pursue his October 2023 lawsuit against the law firm and a former counsel who worked there.

Aug 7, 2025 2:47 PM CDT

Record-setting employment rate for class of 2024 law grads comes with asterisk, new NALP report finds

Class of 2024 law graduates had the highest ever overall employment rate and the highest ever employment rate in bar-admission-required jobs, but percentages only tell part of the story, according to Nikia L. Gray, the executive director of the National Association for Law Placement.

Aug 5, 2025 9:04 AM CDT

Firm founders who sought liquidated damages for early attorney exits should be suspended, conduct board says

The founding partners of a law firm who required lawyers to pay liquidated damages for early exits should be suspended for 90 days, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals’ Board on Professional Responsibility said in a July 30 opinion.

Aug 4, 2025 11:54 AM CDT

At Sheppard Mullin, employee benefits include help with tasks like finding care for aging parents

It’s a common theme—law firm staff and attorneys juggling caregiving responsibilities in their personal lives with their careers. But Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton says it has found a way to help.

Aug 4, 2025 9:34 AM CDT