Arab American lawyer sues BigLaw firm that revoked job offer over Gaza comments
Jinan Chehade gave a press conference in December about her firing. (Photo from CAIR Chicago)
A recent law school graduate sued a law firm Wednesday, alleging that they rescinded her job offer over her views on the Israel-Gaza war.
Jinan Chehade was hired at Foley & Lardner in July but was told the night before her first day in October that the firm was revoking the job offer over statements she made on social media and during a speech at Chicago’s City Hall, her lawsuit says.
The suit alleges that Foley discriminated against Chehade, 26, because of her Arab Muslim background and describes an hours-long “interrogation” with two partners at the firm over her Instagram posts, the contents of a speech in support of the Palestinian territories and her father’s position at a local mosque.
“They called me 13 hours before I was meant to be at work and said my actions don’t fit with the values of the firm,” Chehade told The Washington Post, “and that me being in the firm may make others uncomfortable.”
Workers from a host of fields have been ousted from or left their positions since Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault that killed an estimated 1,200 in Israel and led to an Israeli bombardment that has killed at least 36,000 and injured almost 82,000 people in Gaza. Those facing professional backlash over their views on the war have ranged from a man set to play Santa Claus to an editor of Vogue magazine. Law students with job offers in hand were some of the first to face backlash, The Post reported in October.
The law firm says the complaint does not hold merit, Foley spokeswoman Rachel Sisserson told The Post on Thursday.
“Foley is led by our core values, which seek to foster an environment where people feel included, safe and supported,” she said. “We stand behind our decision to rescind Ms. Chehade’s employment offer as a result of the statements she made surrounding the horrendous attacks by Hamas on October 7.”
The firm did not specify which statements sparked their decision.
In a recording of the three-minute City Hall speech heard by The Post, Chehade reads out testimony from families in Gaza and says the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was the “natural response of 75 years of occupation and violence by Israeli forces.”
While opposing a Chicago City Council resolution that condemned the Hamas attack without mentioning Israel’s bombing in Gaza, Chehade said that “Israel is one of the largest nuclear and military powers in the world, while Gaza is an open-air prison.”
In an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge of discrimination that Chehade filed before the lawsuit, she claimed that her social media posts “pointed out that the October 7 attack needs to be contextualized in light of 75 years of ethnic cleansing and apartheid” but that she never supported targeting of civilians by either side.
Chehade grew up in Bridgeview, Ill., a small town about 30 minutes southwest of Chicago colloquially known as Little Palestine, and after witnessing multiple ways in which Arab Muslims were discriminated against by law enforcement, she decided that she would reclaim the law, she said.
“I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a lawyer,” she said. “I wanted to empower my community and others with the same tools that were used against my community.”
Chehade said she chose to work at Foley after a years-long process of applying, working there as a summer associate, finding a position in the litigation practice group and ensuring they would value her as an Arab-American Muslim attorney. It was very important to Chehade to work in a supportive environment, she said.
Before accepting their offer, Chehade said Alexis Robertson, Foley’s DEI Director, went to lunch with her and assured her that her Arab Muslim heritage and perspective would be embraced at the law firm.
Chehade said she had already rented an apartment in downtown Chicago when she received a phone call Oct. 21 from Lisa Noller, a partner and the chair of litigation at Foley, asking her to come into the office the next day.
Chehade was nervous, but having worked closely with Noller during the summer, she said she felt the meeting was to hear Chehade’s perspective about the war.
She emailed Robertson for advice moments after the call, but the DEI officer “ghosted” Chehade, the complaint said.
When she arrived for the meeting, she was taken into a conference room with Noller and another partner at the firm and presented with packets of printouts.
“They asked me to explain my speech, word by word and line by line,” she said. “They had printed screenshots of my Instagram stories [that disappear after 24 hours] and Instagram posts, and asked me to explain each one.”
Foley’s spokeswoman declined to comment on Noller’s and Robertson’s roles in the situation.
Chehade said the partners also extensively questioned her about social media posts created by the Georgetown chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a student group she left when she graduated in May 2023 - months before the war began.
Before the meeting ended, Chehade said, she realized the partners had already decided she would not work there and had asked her to come in as a formality.
She asked if there was a policy to monitor the opinions of attorneys at the firm and was told, “We don’t censor people except if its terrorism and inciting violence,” according to the complaint.
Chehade denied she ever advocated for terrorism or violence.
“I felt hurt and attacked and was made to feel so small,” she said. “I was being framed as a terrorist.”
Chehade said that as someone with family in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, the war impacted her personally.
That night, she received a phone call from one of the partners rescinding her offer. She was told she would receive an official email with more details but did not.
Chehade said it took her six months to find employment since all the firms looking for fresh graduates had completed their hiring cycles by the end of October.
She is asking Foley for wages she would have received had her offer not been rescinded, compensation for emotional distress, punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
Her lawyer, Paul Vickrey, told The Post: “It could be a significant sum, at least several hundred thousand dollars.”
Chehade said she feels hopeful about the lawsuit.
“I feel empowered and hopeful that our justice system will do what Foley couldn’t do,” she said. “Be fair and protect minorities in the workplace.”
