WilmerHale partner Debo Adegbile was profiled in a New York Amsterdam News article, featuring his success as an anti-discrimination attorney and commissioner on the US Commission on Civil Rights.

Mr. Adegbile, based in New York, co-chairs the firm’s Anti-Discrimination Practice. The New York Amsterdam News article highlights Mr. Adegbile’s dedication to civil rights law and the influences on his becoming a lawyer.

Mr. Adegbile told the Amsterdam News that he decided on a legal career because of his interest in the work of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. (LDF) and its legendary one time leader, Thurgood Marshall who later became the first African American on the US Supreme Court. Years later, Mr. Adegbile would also head the LDF. 

Some of Mr. Adegbile’s recent clients have included cities and local government agencies contending with US Department of Justice investigations of False Claims Act litigation; a leading social media company responding to a federal inquiry, and financial institutions under federal scrutiny for fair lending compliance.

He also has been involved in helping defend a leading university against allegations that its  admissions practices unlawfully discriminated against certain applicants on the basis of race. Additionally, he advises social media companies and higher education institutions on a range of anti-discrimination issues. “I do the work to keep the American promise for everyone,” Mr. Adegbile told the Amsterdam News.