UK law firms ditch Pride logos as Trump attacks diversity

Telegraph

a day ago

Some of the City's leading law firms have ditched rainbow-themed logos to celebrate Pride month amid pressure from Donald Trump's crackdown on diversity policies.
Ashurst, Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper, Freshfields and Linklaters have all abandoned Pride logos on their LinkedIn pages this year having previously celebrated the event on social media.
Rainbow-themed logos are also absent from the firms' pages on X, formerly Twitter.
It comes after the US president issued an executive order banning companies with federal contracts from operating 'illegal' diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration sent letters to 20 leading US law firms, warning them that their DEI policies may be discriminatory.
Mr Trump's threat prompted a flurry of law firms to line up offering free legal work to the administration in return for resolving the dispute. Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss and A&O Shearman all struck deals with the US president to avoid being hit with executive orders.
All of the UK law firms that have dropped their Pride logos this year have significant operations in the US, suggesting Mr Trump's policies are having ripple effects across the pond.
Clifford Chance and A&O Shearman were among the law firms to scale back their support for Pride last year by scrapping the logo from their social media platforms.
Slaughter & May is now the only one of Britain's 'magic circle' law firms to have kept up the practice, with the City firm having added a small rainbow column next to its usual logo in its profile picture on LinkedIn.
Slaughter & May has a significantly smaller American business than all four of its magic circle rivals, who have all pursued major US expansions in recent years.
Some of the City's leading professional services firms have also scaled back celebrations with PwC choosing not to update its logo for Pride month this year, having done so in 2024.
KPMG updated its own LinkedIn profile picture on June 12 after being contacted by The Telegraph. EY and Deloitte have both left their LinkedIn profile pictures unchanged.
A spokesman for Linklaters said it would be celebrating Pride month in other ways this year, including with rainbow-coloured lights at its City of London headquarters.
Freshfields instead opted to update its Linkedin banner with a picture of rainbow-coloured stairs, while keeping its profile picture the same.
A Baker McKenzie spokesman said the law firm plans to use Pride month to 'spotlight our commitment to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone is accepted, valued and feels they belong'.
Clifford Chance, Ashurst, DLA Piper, A&O Shearman, PwC, EY and Deloitte were contacted for comment.
KPMG said their failure to update their LinkedIn profile picture was a 'genuine error'.