This is a PSA to law firms to shift their messaging and pro bono efforts in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Boastful, self-serving social media posts and firm content are out of touch and tone deaf with what’s going on in the U.S. with regard to almost half a century of reproductive rights just dissolving into thin air.

Don’t post them on social media. Have the courage to take a stance. Use your resources to support reproductive rights. Lead with empathy.

This is an incredibly sensitive time for many of us reeling from the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It’s not business as usual in the legal industry when our highest court issues a decision like this.

I encourage law firms to have the courage to use their public platforms (social media, email and website) to post a statement about their stance and their support of related pro bono organizations.

Law firms have a lot of financial resources, so dedicating some of those resources to pro bono work and activism would be money well spent as well as giving your employees time off to volunteer.

This decision will impact our generations to come.

Everyone is watching (often silently) to see how organizations react.

Check in on your women employees. Offer them time off to attend protests and ways to help the cause. I know that taking action always makes me feel better so give employees the opportunity to do that.

Let your women clients know your position and what you are doing to support them.

It’s not enough to have a Women’s Initiatives Committee or hold women’s events. DO SOMETHING.

Get involved.

Mobilize your lawyers to support and volunteer for this cause. Support them taking time off to provide help.

Give money to the organizations fighting for rights we lost.

Have the courage to take a real stance. Lead with empathy.

What are you doing to really support women?

And for those of you who personally want to do something to help the abortion rights cause, read Robin Marty’s op-ed in the New York Times. She says, “The overturning of Roe is the perfect time for every supporter of abortion rights to examine their own commitment to the cause and to discover how they, too, can meet this moment.”

Each of us can use our platforms too to help.

Here’s a video with more on this topic.

Thank you Stefanie for sharing your opinions on this recent Supreme Court decision.