A prominent New York-based law firm that recruits from the nation’s most prestigious law schools – including Harvard and Yale – is scrutinizing potential hires for any involvement in pro-Palestinian student groups or anti-Israel protests.

Sullivan & Cromwell, which has represented Wall Street titans, including Goldman Sachs, and businesses such as Amazon and Google, has hired a background check company to screen job applicants for connections to anti-Israel activism and antisemitism, according to a new report from The New York Times.

Prominent Wall Street law firm Sullivan & Cromwell will not hire candidates found to be involved in anti-Israel protests. (  / iStock)

Joseph Shenker, a leader at S&C, told the outlet that candidates could be disqualified from employment at the firm if they participated in demonstrations where activists used language deemed “triggering” toward Jews, even if the prospect themselves did not make antisemitic remarks.

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“People are taking their outrage about what’s going on in Gaza and turning it into racist antisemitism,” Shenker told The Times.

UCLA protesters

Protests at UCLA on May 6, 2024, with police arresting multiple people who gathered in a campus parking garage. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via / Getty Images)

Following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, anti-Israel protests raged on campuses across the U.S. for months, sparking condemnation from lawmakers and business leaders against some colleges and universities’ handling of antisemitism on campus.

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Several business leaders vowed to stop hiring from schools that allowed demonstrations that threatened the safety of Jewish students. 

Students walk out of the George Washington University commencement ceremony on May 19, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura / Getty Images)

Now, The Times says S&C is the first Wall Street law firm to go public with its policy of not hiring anti-Israel demonstrators, and reported that four of the firm’s rivals are privately considering similar hiring practices.

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has reached out to Sullivan & Cromwell for comment.

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