Goodwin Procter axed relationships with major diversity, equity, and inclusion nonprofit organizations that seek to diversify the legal profession in the wake of federal scrutiny.
The firm sent the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission more than 200 pages worth of information that it had demanded, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg Law. The agency, directed by President Donald Trump, wrote to 20 law firms March 17 asking them to hand over information on their diversity initiatives and hiring decisions going back 10 years.
“These changes, in combination with the firm’s past and ongoing demonstrated commitment to EEO, reflect that the firm’s policies and actions are in accord with the commission’s current guidance,” a lawyer for Goodwin told the agency.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led a coalition of states that asked the 20 firms to send them the same information. Allan Bloom of Proskauer, who is guiding Goodwin in the EEOC probe, asked for the information to be kept confidential in an April 15 letter to Paxton obtained by Bloomberg Law.
Bloom did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The firm also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Changes to DEI
The disclosure reveals that Goodwin ended its relationship with the Sponsors for Educational Opportunities legal fellowship. SEO connects incoming law students with paid fellowships at prestigious law firms. SEO was called out in the EEOC’s letters, alongside the Mansfield certification program and the Leadership Council for Legal Diversity.
The firm is suspending its relationships with LCLD and will no longer participate in Mansfield certification, according to the documents.
“The firm will not end the suspension of the LCLD relationship unless LCLD makes material changes to ensure that its participation criteria are in accordance with the Commission’s most recent technical assistance,” Goodwin’s response to the EEOC read.
SEO and LCLD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Goodwin’s move is an outlier, according to Caren Ulrich Stacy, founder of Diversity Lab, which hosts the Mansfield Program. Nearly 100% of firms involved in the program remain so, she said.
“We are disheartened that Goodwin has withdrawn from its commitments to Mansfield’s lawful principles of increasing transparency and expanding the pool of qualified talent considered for leadership,” Stacy said in a statement.
The firm also disclosed in its reply to the EEOC it made changes to its fellowship program for first-year law students. It axed a requirement for future applicants to demonstrate a “commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion” the day the EEOC announced its probe in public letters to the 20 law firms. It also removed the word “diversity” from its 1L fellowship program title the same day.
“Therefore, for 2026, applicants will no longer be required to demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” the firm’s letter to the EEOC said.
Like many law firms, Goodwin replaced its “diversity, equity and inclusion” moniker with “opportunity, inclusion, and belonging.”
Personal Data
The EEOC also requested specific, identifiable data of past fellowship recipients and those promoted to partner, including names, phone numbers, race and gender. The firm declined to hand over identifiable data but did share anonymously fellowship recipients’ race, gender, school, grade point average and location of the office where they worked.
The targeted firms have taken different avenues in response to the EEOC’s probe.
Reed Smith is in talks with the EEOC over its requests, Perkins Coie declined to respond to the request until its suit contesting a punitive executive order was resolved, according to letters obtained by Bloomberg Law. Hogan Lovells, another firm that was probed for details, requested an extension past the April 15 deadline.
Six firms who also received the EEOC letter— Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher, A&O Shearman, Skadden, and Milbank— made deals with Trump that included free legal services, in exchange for being released from the probe.
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