The Cost of Silence: A Lawyer’s Role in Upholding the Rule of Law

Rachel Cohen (Harvard Law School ’22; The Ohio State University ’14) is a nationally recognized and acclaimed attorney whose work has placed her at the center of a conversation about institutional power, the meaning of the rule of law, and the duty legal professionals have to uphold the rule of law. Her leadership and moral courage have earned her recognition as a 2025 Chicagoan of the Year and 2025 Lawyer of the Year Honoree.

In March 2025, a month after President Trump announced a slew of executive orders targeting several law firms, Rachel Cohen made headlines when she publicly resigned from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP due to the firm’s lack of resistance to the administration’s attack on the legal profession. Cohen helped organize and author an open letter signed by over 1,500 law firm associates urging Big Law leadership to resist executive intimidation and defend the independence of the legal profession. Since then, Cohen has testified before members of Congress about threats to the legal profession and emerged as a prominent grassroots organizer and activist in Chicago’s resistance to ICE enforcement. Through court-watch initiatives, public demonstrations, and widely circulated content on TikTok, Instagram, and Substack, she has worked to equip communities with tools to protect immigrant neighbors and constitutional norms.

Indiana University Maurer School of Law’s Latinx Law Student Association, Center for Constitutional Democracy, and American Constitution Society, is honored to host Rachel Cohen virtually as she visits law schools around the country sharing her story. The discussion will explore how authoritarianism can surface not only in government, but within law firms and legal institutions and what future attorneys can do in response. The discussion will invite students to reflect on ethical obligation, professional risk, and the role of individual action in preserving an independent legal profession and the rule of law.