Foley & Lardner rescinds associate job offer over comments following Hamas attack
Law Firms
Foley & Lardner rescinds associate job offer over comments following Hamas attack
December 4, 2023, 8:25 am CST
Foley & Lardner has rescinded a job offer to an incoming associate just before she was set to begin work at the firm’s Chicago office in October. Image from Shutterstock.
Foley & Lardner rescinded a job offer to an incoming associate just before she was set to begin work at the firm’s Chicago office in October.
The law firm confirmed to Bloomberg Law that it pulled the offer for Jinan Chehade because of “public statements that were inconsistent with our core values.”
Foley didn’t specify what Chehade said that it found objectionable. But in an earlier version of its statement, the firm said Chehade made public statements “condoning the horrendous attacks by Hamas,” according to the Bloomberg article.
Chehade, a 2023 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, filed a charge of discrimination Nov. 13 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to Chehade’s lawyer, Rima Kapitan, who spoke with Bloomberg Law.
“They took her media posts as evidence that she supported violence, even though she said her concern was freedom for Palestinians,” said Kapitan.
Chehade is alleging retaliation and discrimination on the basis of her nationality and religion, Kapitan said.
In the EEOC charge, Chehade said she didn’t support the targeting of civilians by either side. Rather, she said the Hamas attack “needs to be contextualized in light of 75 years of ethnic cleansing and apartheid.”
See also:
“Winston & Strawn rescinds NYU law student’s job offer over ‘inflammatory’ Israel comments”
“Citing its ‘value system,’ Davis Polk rescinds 3 job offers over groups’ anti-Israel statements”
