The Harvard Law grad who catapulted into the center of President Donald Trump’s battle with Big Law — quitting her job at a top firm in a very public fashion this week — has an extensive history of advocacy.
And it doesn’t seem like Rachel A. Cohen, 30, plans to fade into the background since leaving Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where she’d been an associate for 2.5 years.
In a TikTok on Saturday, Cohen warned about what might happen if the legal industry “rolls over” under the weight of Trump’s demands, calling Paul Weiss’ deal with Trump a “capitulation.”
“If you are wondering if I am being alarmist, look at what just happened,” she said. “And what I am telling you is going to happen next is that if the industry rolls over on this, that immigration net will be cast far wider than asylum.”
On Reddit, an account that appears to belong to Cohen has been answering queries about the decision to join a Big Law firm in the first place, the decision to quit, and where the passion for law came from.
“[W]hen I was a very young kid (like 7 lmfao) as a social studies project my mom made me pick a city council candidate to support and volunteer for and I have been a vaguely unhinged Political Advocate ever since,” the Redditor wrote.
Business Insider could not reach Cohen for comment on Saturday and could not verify the account belonged to her. Still, many posts predate her resignation and align with her public statements.
Cohen announced in a LinkedIn post on Thursday that she was quitting Skadden because she believed the firm had not responded properly to Trump’s threats.
She emailed her entire firm, calling for it to take action, and circulated an open letter among associates at top firms, condemning their employers for what she has described as inaction in the face of the administration’s attacks.
Trump has targeted law firms he views as aligned with his political opponents by revoking their security clearances and calling for a review of their government contracts.
On March 14, the president revoked the security clearance of employees at Paul Weiss, a top law firm that he accused of weaponizing the judicial process. A week later, he withdrew the executive order after the firm reached an agreement with him.
Trump said Paul Weiss agreed to eliminate DEI considerations from its hiring policies. However, as BI reported, an email the firm sent to its employees said only that it “affirms its commitment to merit-based hiring, promotion, and retention” and will hire experts to do a “comprehensive audit of all of its employment practices.” Trump also said the firm agreed to provide $40 million in free legal services to support his administration policies “on issues including assistance for veterans and countering antisemitism.”
On Friday, Trump ordered the Justice Department to flag law firms affiliated with “frivolous” lawsuits against his administration. The memo to Attorney General Pam Bondi specifically flagged “unscrupulous behavior by attorneys and law firms” in immigration law.
Cohen’s letter said the Trump administration is sending a message that “firms that represent those who oppose the administration’s agenda will be punished.”
Years of activism predate her law degree
Before she landed in the headlines on Thursday, Cohen had spent years advocating for social causes like abortion, education, and immigration rights.
According to her LinkedIn, she graduated from Ohio State University in 2014, where she studied political science and strategic communication.
She became a special projects manager at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Columbus, Ohio, a youth development organization that mentors school-age kids, and then taught English literature at Providence Public Schools in Rhode Island.
During Trump’s first presidency, Cohen volunteered at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England and served on committees of the Rhode Island Democratic Party and the National Organization for Women. Her social media includes smiling photos with Sen. Elizabeth Warren and President Joe Biden, who, at the time, was the former vice president.
In 2019, she began her studies at Harvard Law School, where she held leadership positions at the Harvard Immigration Project and the Journal of Law & Gender. She also worked at the Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Women’s Law Association, among other societies. She was an immigration intern at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia before she graduated from Harvard in 2022.
In the fall of the same year, she began working as a finance associate at Skadden, one of the country’s top law firms, where she “maintained a robust pro bono practice focused on immigration and housing law.” She held that role until her resignation, which she described as “conditional notice” that is “revocable if the firm comes up with a satisfactory response to the current moment.”
Skadden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘Other people will make sacrifices that are tenable to them’
On the Reddit account that appears to be Cohen’s, she wrote that she has no plans to return to Big Law. She also said Skadden locked her out of her email when she sent her resignation but is paying out her vacation days and her notice period.
She also said she had planned on leaving Skadden even before the Paul Weiss deal.
“I did not intend to quit yesterday, or this month, or whatever, but I was likely to leave this year anyway and always have planned to do so and take a big pay cut,” the post read.
“As the admin started moving, it became clearer to me that timeline was going to need to accelerate, so while I was really hoping to finish the quarter and stay through an asylum hearing I was supervising next month at the very least, this is not the same degree of sacrifice as it would be for many other people.
“That’s one of the many things I’m alluding to when I admit this isn’t something everyone (or even most people) can do. I’m also white, I have the credentials, I have supportive parents who cannot pay my LOANS but can provide immediate financial assistance, have literally the tightest knit and most supportive and aligned set of friends on the planet, don’t have kids, etc etc etc.”
She continued, “Someone (maybe many people, maybe they’re mostly at PW right now) needed to do it, but everyone does not. Other people will make sacrifices that are tenable to them.”
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