In the days following the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, law firms ­nationwide released statements, expressing a sense of duty to speak out against hate and to reinforce their commitment to a tolerant and diverse workplace. But Dilworth Paxson had a more specific motivation for addressing the issue.

“Dilworth Paxson LLP has been made aware of allegations that a former short-term, part-time employee, Mark Daniel Reardon, attended the recent 'alt right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and made a number of offensive social media posts,” read a statement posted on the firm's ­website Aug. 14. “Reardon does not work for Dilworth. Dilworth terminated his employment as a part-time ­support staff member in September 2016. Dilworth was not aware of the offensive views attributed to Reardon until after the termination of his employment, when we were alerted by members of the 
community.”

Reardon was outed on the Philadelphia-based anti-fascist blog “Philly Antifa” in April as the individual behind the Twitter handle @Illegal_Aryan. Initially, the blog reported that Reardon worked for Dilworth as “a desktop support engineer,” but later posted an update that read: “We have confirmed that Reardon is no longer employed at the law firm he had listed as his Facebook employment. We have removed the contact info and thank both the firm for being understanding and everyone who called for keeping it civil.”