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Rachel Cohen, who quit Big Law over her firm’s response to Donald Trump’s battle with the profession, said she called her parents before quitting to be sure she was doing the right thing.
Cohen quit Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in March and posted her resignation letter on LinkedIn. She said she was quitting because she believed the firm had not responded properly to Trump’s threats against firms.
In an episode of the “Rapid Response” podcast released Tuesday, Cohen said she first called her parents for advice, saying she wanted to be sure she’d done “everything else possible to not torch a career.”
Cohen described her parents as “white people who live in Ohio, who have a lot of faith in systems,” and said that they were former lawyers who worked as Judge Advocate General’s Corps attorneys in the Air Force.
“I said, ‘I am not calling to ask if this action might get me fired. I’m calling to ask, does it feel unfair? Is there something else I should exhaust first?” Cohen said. She didn’t say what their response was.
Cohen said that before resigning, she reached out internally to “people in management” at Skadden to ask how she could help with what she expected would be an “industry-wide response” to Trump’s executive orders against Big Law firms.
She said she received a response thanking her for her perspective. Skadden did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Cohen also helped circulate an open letter among associates at top firms condemning their employers for inaction and started making some media appearances to discuss the situation.
Her decision to resign came after Paul Weiss, another elite law firm, agreed to a list of demands in exchange for Trump rescinding his executive order against the firm.
“I’m thinking what’s the next proactive step? And I went home and then outlined, what are my asks for the firm? What should we be doing?” Cohen said.
In her resignation letter, Cohen said she would not leave if Skadden provided a “satisfactory response to the current moment.”
Trump has targeted law firms he views as aligned with his political opponents by revoking their security clearances and calling for a review of their government contracts.
Several Big Law firms, including Skadden, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and Paul Weiss, have cut deals with the President to protect their business, prompting accusations from legal professionals that they are capitulating to Trump.
Other firms, like Perkins Coie, have challenged the administration’s directives, alleging in lawsuits that the executive orders are intended to chill free speech and deter clients from doing business with them.
More than 500 law firms have signed a brief denouncing Trump’s targeting of Perkins Coie and saying they must join together to “preserve the integrity of the American legal system.”
Cohen has remained vocal on social media about the ongoing challenges to the legal profession since she quit.
She said on the podcast that she doesn’t know what her next career move will be. Cohen did not respond to a request for comment.
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