This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Harvard law students have disrupted a recruiting event for Paul Weiss, the law firm representing ExxonMobil in climate lawsuits, in an escalation the protesters hope will open a new front in climate activism in the legal world.

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The oil giant is facing a series of lawsuits in the US related to claims that it knew petroleum products were heating the planet and sought to persuade the public otherwise.

The students say Paul Weiss has cultivated a reputation as a liberal corporate law firm, despite representing oil companies, tobacco and big banks. Ted Wells Jr, a partner at the New York firm, is a prominent Democratic donor.

During a reception at an upscale restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a group of students unfurled a banner reading “#DropExxon” and began chanting over a speaker from the firm that they wouldn’t work for Paul Weiss as long as the firm worked for Exxon. They live-streamed the event.

The protest follows another demonstration at the Harvard-Yale football game in November, when students from both universities swarmed the field at half-time.

The protesters say they want to bring accountability to the legal world, where attorneys traditionally have been expected to accept that all entities deserve representation regardless of their deeds. The action is especially jarring because the field’s culture dictates professionalism.

Organizer Aaron Regunberg said the protest action will be a shock to the Harvard Law School community, where students are taught that their job requires them to remain neutral about the actions of clients.

“But if you don’t start these conversations – if you don’t start forcing people to reckon with the reality of what the work that Paul Weiss is doing for Exxon, for example, means – then there’s never going to be any change,” Regunberg said. “And it’s clear from the science that we have just a few years left to address climate change.”

Asked how he would explain his participation to future employers, Regunberg said: “I went to law school because I believe in the power of our legal system to be a force for good, and using aggressive tactics to enable corporate polluters to literally continue lighting our future on fire to me is the antithesis of what lawyers should do.”

Paul Weiss successfully defended Exxon against a lawsuit from New York’s attorney general alleging the company misled investors about climate regulation risks. The publication Law.com named the firm’s lawyers “litigators of the week”, for delivering a “cool win” for Exxon in the $1.6bn suit.

The firm has also initiated suits against the state government officials bringing cases against Exxon, accusing the top lawyers in Massachusetts and New York of an alleged illegal conspiracy.

One judge dismissed those allegations, writing that the relief Exxon sought was an “extraordinary” attempt to “to stop state officials from conducting duly-authorized investigations into potential fraud”, based on “extremely thin allegations and speculative inferences” that are altogether “implausible”.

The Guardian has contacted Paul Weiss for comment.