TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 16, 2021

New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore is donating $3 million to Nashville-based Fisk University, Reuters reports. The funding comes from attorneys’ fees earned in a pro bono case brought on behalf of African American and women workers in Alabama. For 40 years, Cravath lawyers have handled the employment discrimination case. It wrapped up at the end of 2020 when a federal court in Alabama found gaping disparities in Black and female employment in police and fire departments in the state. Fisk will receive a one-time gift for building and infrastructure improvements. One of Fisk's founders, Rev. Erastus Milo Cravath, was the father of Cravath partner Paul Drennan Cravath, who died in 1940. The law firm has maintained a connection with Fisk through programs such as the Cravath Scholars Program, which provides scholarships and pre-law internships to Fisk students. The firm also will give away another $3 million from the proceeds of the case divided equally between the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Equal Justice Initiative, EJI’s Legacy Museum and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.