Following up on my previous posts:

• Straight, White Female Alleges King & Spalding’s Summer Associate Diversity Fellowship Violated Title VII (May 21, 2024)
• King & Spalding Fights Bias Suit By Straight, White Female Over Summer Associate Diversity Fellowship Program (Sept. 28, 2024)

ABA Journal, Judge Tosses Bias Suit Over BigLaw Firm’s Diversity Hiring Program for Summer Associates:

A straight, white female lawyer can’t sue King & Spalding over exclusion from a diversity hiring program for summer associates because of a “paucity of allegations” that she was ready and able to apply, a federal judge ruled Monday.

The plaintiff, Sarah Spitalnick, said she didn’t apply for the position while she was a 1L at the University of Baltimore School of Law because she thought that it would have been a futile gesture. The February 2021 job ad that she saw for the program said candidates “must have an ethnically or culturally diverse background or be a member of the LGBT community.”

But U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar of the District of Maryland said mere allegations about being ready and able to apply aren’t enough. Spitalnick’s lawsuit says nothing about steps that she took to apply or inquire about the position or about considering similar positions, he said [Spitalnick v. King & Spalding, No. 24-1367 D. MD 2025)].

• Bloomberg Law, King & Spalding Defeats Lawsuit Over Diverse Hiring Program
• Law360, King & Spalding Beats Bias Suit Over Summer Program
• Law.com, King & Spalding Escapes Suit Alleging Summer Minority Internship Program Was Discriminatory
• Reuters, Law Firm King & Spalding Defeats Lawsuit Over Lawyer Diversity Program

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