Anti-DEI Group Asks EEOC to Investigate 'Discriminatory' Big Law Fellowship Program

Dan Roe writes:

A group of 44 Big Law firms that hired fellows from a diversity-oriented nonprofit have been named in a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The charge, brought by a newly formed nonprofit organization called Americans for Equal Opportunity, claimed that three “white or white-presenting” applicants were rejected for fellowships with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, known as SEO Law, because they were not part of minority groups preferred by SEO Law.

SEO Law's partnership with the 44 law firms was previously characterized as potentially discriminatory in letters sent to 20 law firms in March by EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas.

Americans for Equal Opportunity registered as a nonprofit in early February and employed a Manhattan Institute legal fellow to write Monday's charge. Its website asks employees to submit instances of illegal discrimination to a website called HarmedByDei.com. The group characterized the SEO Law fellowship as a “shortcut to full-time employment at Sponsor Firms for candidates from preferred racial and ethnic backgrounds.”

Read more at Law.com.