Davis Polk, one of the country’s most prestigious law firms, recently rescinded employment offers made to three students who the firm believed led organisations at Harvard and Columbia that issued statements blaming Israel for the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The New York law firm said two of the students held leadership roles in groups that signed a letter at Columbia and one was affiliated with the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups, which jointly wrote a letter that held the “Israeli regime” responsible for the deadly violence. The chair and managing partner of Davis Polk, Neil Barr, said on Tuesday that the firm did not want employees who endorsed the atrocities of the Hamas attack working for them.
On Tuesday, the firm said it was reconsidering that decision for two of the students, who fought their dismissals and said that they did not authorise the letters which did not have any individual signatories. Davis Polk said it was engaging with the students who had fought their dismissals, but for now it had not made a decision on whether to reverse course.
