Foley & Lardner Is Third Law Firm To Rescind Offer To Incoming Associate Due To Anti-Israel Comments

Law360, Foley & Lardner Axes Associate Job Offer Over Israel Remarks:

Foley & Lardner has rescinded a job offer to a former summer associate and recent Georgetown University Law Center graduate over her public comments about Hamas' attack on Israel, the law firm said Thursday.

Foley & Lardner pulled back its job offer to recent Georgetown Law graduate Jinan Chehade, who was slated to start in October, after it learned she had made public statements about Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel "that were inconsistent with our core values," the firm told Law360.

"In the face of rising anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and acts of hatred towards Israelis and Palestinians, Foley & Lardner's foremost commitment is — and has been — to our people," a firm spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. "Led by our core values, there is no room for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism or any other form of violence, hatred or bigotry at the firm. ...

In a statement to Law360 on Friday, Chehade said she was fired "the day before I was set to start" after being "interrogated by the managing partners of the firm about my social media posts about the rights of Palestinians, my involvement in Students for Justice in Palestine, as well as other aspects of my identity and background."

"My comments were about the rights of Palestinians and Israel's human rights violations," she added. "No state should be above criticism."

She also alleged she was "targeted as the only Arab Muslim hijabi associate in the entire office," and accused Foley & Lardner of applying a standard that was not applied to "members of the firm who advocate for Israeli violence or expressed support for Israel."

Bloomberg Law, Foley Pulls Associate Job Offer Over Israel-Palestine Comments:

The decision has prompted legal action from Chehade, who on Nov. 13 filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She’s accusing the firm of illegal retaliation and discrimination on the basis of her nationality and religion, her lawyer Rima Kapitan said in a phone interview Thursday.

Kapitan said Chehade also plans to file a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, where Chehade was to start her job at Foley. Senior members of the firm “interrogated” Chehade over her social media posts before pulling her offer the day before her Oct. 23 start date, the EEOC charge claims.

“They took her media posts as evidence that she supported violence, even though she said her concern was freedom for Palestinians,” said Kapitan. “There are other attorneys at Foley who support Israel. Presumably none of those attorneys were called into an interrogation or fired for their political beliefs.”

Chehade first revealed Foley’s termination in an interview that aired Thursday with the news program Democracy Now, where she claimed Foley framed her advocacy for Palestine as “supporting terrorism.” She also claimed that she was singled out “as one of the only visibly Arab Muslim women associates in the law firm nationwide.”

Chehade claimed in the EEOC charge that her social media posts “pointed out that the October 7 attack needs to be contextualized in light of 75 years of ethnic cleansing and apartheid,” but that she never supported targeting of civilians by either side.

🚨 BREAKING: Georgetown Law graduate Jinan speaks out for the first time after her job offer from prominent law firm Foley & Lardner LLP was rescinded over her support for Palestinian rights on social media, reported by @democracynow during today’s daily show. pic.twitter.com/KOE2qOEoiV

— Palestine Legal (@pal_legal) November 30, 2023

Davis Polk and Winston Strawn also have rescinded job offers to incoming associates due to their comments about Israel. 

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• UC-Berkeley Law Faculty, Statement In Support Of Jewish Students (Oct. 11, 2022)
• Steven Lubet (Northwestern),  A Free-Speech Scandal at Berkeley Law (Oct. 17, 2022)
• Chronicle of Higher Education Debate, Is UC-Berkeley Law School Discriminating Against Jews? (Oct. 28, 2022)
• San Francisco Chronicle, Complaint Alleges ‘Profound And Deep-Seated Anti-Semitic Discrimination’ At UC-Berkeley Law School (Dec. 14, 2022)
• New York Times, At UC-Berkeley Law, A Debate Over Zionism, Free Speech, And Campus Ideals (Dec. 22, 2022)
• New York Times, At NYU Law And Harvard, Fallout From Israel-Hamas Student Comments Continues (Oct. 13, 2023)
• Wall Street Journal Op-Ed (Steven Davidoff Solomon (UC-Berkeley)), Don’t Hire My Anti-Semitic Berkeley Law Students (Oct. 16, 2023)
• New York Times, Davis Polk and Winston & Strawn Withdraw Job Offers to Columbia, Harvard, and NYU Law Students Due to Antisemitic Comments About Israel-Hamas (Oct. 18, 2023)
• Los Angeles Times Op-Ed (Erwin Chemerinsky (Dean, UC-Berkeley)), Nothing Has Prepared Me For The Antisemitism I See On College Campuses Now (Oct. 31, 2023)
• Bloomberg Law, Fall Out From Antisemitism At NYU And UC-Berkeley Law Schools (Nov. 29, 2023)