ADL and law firms build 'free' legal network to combat antisemitism
The ADL Legal Action Network, established by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Gibson Dunn, deploys 39,000 attorneys from over 40 U.S. law firms across 35 states to deliver pro bono legal services solely to Jewish individuals reporting antisemitism.
Jewish claimants submit details of discrimination, intimidation, harassment, vandalism, or violence via the online portal at https://www.adl.org/adl-legal-action.
This reporting system functions as a private enforcement pipeline, using AI to evaluate submissions and route them to ADL's incident response infrastructure and partner firms like Cooley LLP, Covington & Burling LLP, Morgan Lewis, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.
Litigation teams assess reports through interviews, then initiate rapid responses against alleged offenders, encompassing physical harm, doxxing, religious exercise prevention, government function disruptions, educational curriculum challenges, building takeovers, extremist organizations, individuals, business discrimination, firings, demotions, unpaid leave, religious accommodation denials, and damage to Jewish-owned enterprises.
The network accelerates coordinated private lawsuits, channeling resources to pressure targets.
It extends the 2023 Campus Antisemitism Legal Line, operated with Gibson Dunn, Brandeis Center, and Hillel International, which processed 1,000 reports from 230 campuses, yielding civil rights complaints, criminal prosecutions, and lawsuits.
ADL's National Litigation Department, launched in 2023, filed more cases in two years than in its 112-year history, targeting "hate groups" for law violations and representing October 7 victims. Incidents allegedly reached 9,354 in the U.S. in 2024 after the October 7, 2023, Israel attack, with Jews reportedly facing over 70 percent of religious hate crimes according to FBI data curated by the ADL.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated:
“Through this partnership with Gibson Dunn, alongside dozens of the world’s top tier law firms, we are now dramatically expanding our capabilities to support more Jewish Americans by helping to provide direct access to legal support anywhere in the country. Our goal is to pursue cases that have the potential to bring justice to those who experience acts of antisemitism.”
Gibson Dunn partner Orin Snyder said: “We are proud to establish this unprecedented legal protection against antisemitism, extremism, and hate.”
Pro bono chair Katie Marquart added: “We are proud to be using our legal expertise to battle antisemitism and to advocate for those who have been subjected to this pernicious and virulent form of hate.”
Gibson Dunn recorded more than 200,000 pro bono hours last year.