NYU Law Students Join Harvard And Yale In Boycotting Paul Weiss Until Firm Drops Exxon As A Client

Following up on my previous posts:

• Harvard Law Students Urge Boycott Of Paul Weiss To Force Law Firm To Drop ExxonMobil As A Client
• First Harvard, Now Yale. Law Students Want Paul Weiss to #DropExxon

Karen Sloan (law.com), Paul Weiss Targeted, This Time by NYU Law Students:

Thirty students from New York University School of Law disrupted a Paul Weiss recruiting event Tuesday evening—marking the third time in a month that aspiring lawyers from an elite law campus have targeted the firm over its representation of ExxonMobil in climate change litigation.

It’s the latest sign that the law student-initiated #DropExxon campaign against Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is spreading. Harvard law students held the first protest Jan. 15, followed by Yale students Feb. 6. Protest organizers are already circulating a national pledge in which signers vow not to interview with the firm for summer associate positions or work there until the firm drops Exxon as a client. And they say they hope to see more direct confrontations with the firm in the run-up to the summer’s on-campus interview season and are in talks with students at other law schools. ...

“First you heard from Harvard, then you heard from Yale; now you’ll hear from us,” the students chanted. “We, the students of NYU Law will not work for you while you work for Exxon. We are here tonight because this is do or die. Our future is on fire and you’re fanning the flames. If you want to work with us, then drop Exxon.”

On Wednesday, Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp reiterated an earlier statement defending its Exxon work.

“We are proud of the outstanding work we do for a wide range of commercial and pro bono clients in their most challenging and high-profile matters, including our recent defense of ExxonMobil in a securities fraud case in which the court found, after trial, that plaintiff’s claims were entirely without merit,” Karp said. “Paul Weiss is committed to free speech and debate, just as we are committed to the principle that we represent our clients and safeguard the rule of law zealously and to the best of our abilities.”