Major international law firm Winston & Strawn has retracted a job offer for a summer associate due to remarks made by the student in a law school publication. The comments in question saw the student place blame for fatal attacks by Hamas on Israel. This move occurred one day after Ryna Workman, president of New York University’s student bar association, wrote that Israel was entirely responsible for the significant loss of life in the recent conflict.
In a public statement on Tuesday, Winston & Strawn declared, “These comments profoundly conflict with Winston & Strawn’s values. Accordingly, the firm has rescinded the law student’s offer of employment.” Workman had been a summer associate in Winston’s New York office before returning to NYU last month, as stated in a now-deleted LinkedIn profile.
The most recent wave of armed conflict ignited on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants launched an unexpected attack in southern Israel. Reports show that over 1,200 Israelis and approximately 900 Palestinians have lost their lives as of Wednesday. In her controversial newsletter item, Workman blamed Israel’s policy towards Palestine for these deaths, stating: “This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary. I will not condemn Palestinian resistance.”
Read more about the launching of attacks.
Further details on the ongoing fatalities.
The Tuesday statement from Winston & Strawn branded Workman’s comments as ‘inflammatory’, affirming the firm’s solidarity with Israel’s right to exist in peace and its condemnation of Hamas and the violence and destruction it has instigated.
Despite the controversy, Winston & Strawn remains committed to “eradicate anti-Semitism in all forms and to the day when hatred, bigotry, and violence against all people have been eliminated.”
As of now, Workman has not responded to requests for comments.