Harvard Law Students Launch Campaign To #DumpKirkland Over Mandatory Arbitration Agreements For Associates

Bloomberg Law, Law Students Plan to #DumpKirkland Over Arbitration Agreements:

Students at Harvard Law School have launched a campaign urging their peers to boycott Kirkland & Ellis until the firm removes mandatory arbitration agreements from its employee contracts.

On Monday morning, a student-led organization called the Pipeline Parity Project published a copy of a 2018 Kirkland arbitration agreement. In it, associates waived their right to sue the firm in court over a range of employment concerns, including sexual harassment and wage theft.

“Kirkland & Ellis is now the biggest law firm by gross revenue in the world,” Harvard 2L Vail Kohnert-Yount, a member of the Pipeline Parity Project, said in a statement. “That makes it the biggest employer at Harvard Law School to use forced arbitration agreements, a form of coercive contract that requires employees, as a condition of employment, to waive their right to sue their employer for any reason.” ...

Kirkland, which the students said has used these mandatory arbitration agreements for employees since 2008, did not respond to a request for comment.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Top 14 Law Schools Demand That Law Firms Disclose Summer Associate Arbitration Agreements (May 22, 2018)
• Loyola 2L Outs Himself To End Law Firm NDAs (May 31, 2018)
• Arbitration And Sexual Harassment Policies At 200 Law Firms (June 13, 2018)