Paul, Weiss Denounces Anti-Semitism in Statement Condemning Recent Attacks Across the U.S.

May 27, 2021

On May 27, Paul, Weiss Chairman Brad S. Karp enlisted 17 of the nation's elite law firm leaders to issue a powerful and unified statement condemning the recent national surge in anti-Semitic attacks and negative portrayals of Jews in the press and on social media.

For nearly a century, Paul, Weiss has been a leading voice against bigotry, hate and violence in all its forms. In just the past few years, we have coalesced the legal community repeatedly to join us in condemning intolerance, hatred and violence against Black, Asian-American and Pacific Islander, and LGBTQ communities and against vulnerable immigrants and refugees, among others.

Speaking out and fighting against injustice is deeply imbedded in Paul, Weiss's history. Our firm's very founding represented a frontal challenge of prevailing bigotry in the profession; Jewish lawyers who entered the profession in New York City a century ago struggled to be hired by non-Jewish firms and found it impossible to become partners. Louis Weiss and John Wharton, who founded Paul, Weiss predecessor firm Weiss & Wharton in 1923, were determined to build a firm that aggressively disregarded the the unspoken rule that Jews and Gentiles neither practiced together nor attracted clients of their respective creeds--ultimately helping transform the then-cultural norms of the New York legal community. In 1946, Weiss, worked alongside Eleanor Roosevelt as a founding director and vice president of the U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children during World War II to relocate refugees from that troubled continent and to change American policy towards immigration.

We will continue to lead in this critically important battle for justice and equality, standing for what is right for everyone in our global society.

The statement, which was published by The American Lawyer on its Op-Ed pages on May 27, is below.

Statement Condemning Anti-Semitism

'As leaders of some of this country's largest law firms, we are heeding the call by Bret Stephens, 'Anti-Zionism Isn't Anti-Semitism? Someone Didn't Get the Memo,' The New York Times, May 24, 2021, to publicly denounce anti-Semitism and the demonization of Jews pervading the press, social media, and the streets of this country.

We stand for the rule of law and the tolerance and inclusion of all. We have protested the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others; we have publicly condemned acts of violence and hatred against Asian Pacific Islanders, Black, Latinx, LGBTQ, and Muslim communities; we are litigating against hate groups to hold them accountable for their racist and violent acts; we have litigated seminal civil rights cases; we have fought against efforts to separate children from their parents' arms at our borders; we have fought to expand the right to marry to include same-sex couples; and we are engaged in the struggle to end gun violence. We are advocates who take action to redress the wrongs in our country and to protect the vulnerable.

Today, and every day, we stand against the pernicious and violent attacks against Jews in this country. We are horrified by the vitriolic hate being spewed, by both the uneducated and the educated who know better, on social media. We are disheartened and alarmed by the lack of urgency in denouncing these escalating and offensive attacks on Jews. In the face of these acts in our own country, we are frightened by the silence of a nation that vowed never to forget the massacre of millions at the hands of hate.

An attack on any group based on race, religion, color, sexual orientation, or national origin - including Jewish people - is an assault on the values of diversity, equity and inclusion that are the bedrock of this country and that we as law firms strive to uphold in our own institutions. We call on our colleagues, the leaders of corporate America, and private and public academic institutions, including law schools, to stand with us and publicly denounce anti-Semitism, in all of its forms.'

Signatories

Leaders of the following law firms have joined the statement:

• Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP - Kim Koopersmith, Chairperson
• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LP - Michael A. Gerstenzang, Managing Partner
• Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP - Faiza J. Saeed, Presiding Partner
• Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP - Neil Barr, Managing Partner
• Debevoise & Plimpton LLP - Michael W. Blair, Presiding Partner
• Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP - David J. Greenwald, Chairman
• Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP - Barbara L. Becker, Chair and Managing Partner
• Milbank LLP - Scott A. Edelman, Chairman; and David J. Wolfson, Executive Director
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP - Jami McKeon, Chair
• O'Melveny & Myers LLP - Bradley J. Butwin, Chairman
• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP - Brad S. Karp, Chairman
• Ropes & Gray LLP - Julie H. Jones, Chair
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP - William R. Dougherty, Chairman of Firm Executive Committee
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP - Eric J. Friedman, Executive Partner
• Sullivan & Cromwell LLP - Joseph C. Shenker, Chair
• Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz - Daniel A. Neff, Co-Chairman of Executive Committee
• Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP - Barry M. Wolf, Executive Partner and Chair of Firm's Management Committee

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.