Yale law students protested Paul, Weiss, Rifkind & Wharton at a Feb. 6 recruiting reception. (Courtesy photo)

Students from two of the county's most elite law schools have banded together to launch a national campaign to pressure Paul Weiss to drop ExxonMobil as a client.

A group of Harvard and Yale law students are asking counterparts at other law schools to sign a pledge that they will not interview for summer associate positions or work for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison until the firm no longer represents the oil and gas giant. They say the firm's representation of Exxon in a series of climate change lawsuits makes it complicit in the planet's destruction.

"As future lawyers, we have a choice," the pledge reads. "Will we commit ourselves to enabling corporations to continue putting human civilization at risk of climate catastrophe? Or will we dedicate our careers to making a positive impact in our communities and helping build a more just and sustainable future?"

The #DropExxon organizers are also encouraging students at other law schools to protest the firm at its recruiting events, which typically target first-year students and are intended to encourage them to interview with the firm during the on-campus interview season at the start of their second year.

The Yale students staged the second such protest on Feb. 6, when Paul Weiss held a recruiting reception at a New Haven restaurant. About 40 law students dressed in business attire unfurled #DropExxon banners and chanted for 20 minutes while a similar number of classmates mingled with partners from the firm. A group of Harvard law students held a similar protest at a Paul Weiss reception three weeks ago.

"Some of the attorneys who were there were paying attention, but some just wanted to continue on with their conversations, which seems representative of how they are treating this whole issue—business as usual in the face of the climate crisis," said Karen Anderson, a second-year Yale law student who helped organize the protest. "It was powerful to be a part of."

In a prepared statement, Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp stood by the firm's work for Exxon.

"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."

Paul Weiss is representing Exxon in multiple cases related to climate change. In December, A New York judge dismissed the state attorney general's securities fraud case against Exxon, which alleged that the oil company mislead investors over climate-change related disclosures. A similar case is pending in Massachusetts.

The students are targeting Paul Weiss not only because of its aggressive defense of Exxon in the climate change litigation—the firm has countersued states that have brought lawsuits against it—but also because that work is in tension with the reputation the firm has worked to cultivate, Anderson said.

"They like to talk about pro bono work they do," she said. "They have said they have this unwavering commitment to the public interest. They present themselves as this positive force in the world that people can work at and feel professionally fulfilled."

By spotlighting the firm's Exxon work, the organizers of the #DropExxon campaign hope not only to cut off the firm's law student recruiting pipeline, but also prompt attorneys now at the firm to consider their complicity in climate change, Anderson said.

"Starting this conversation with first-year students has been a powerful introduction to this idea that: These law firms are making choices, these choices do matter, and there are ways to differentiate what firms have chosen to do with their legal fire power," she said.