Relman Colfax PLLC

Racial Equity Audits and Independent Investigations

Relman Colfax has broad experience conducting civil rights-related investigations, audits, and reviews on behalf of Fortune 500 businesses, non-profit organizations, federal agencies, and others.

The Firm’s investigations are informed by its decades of work advancing equity and inclusion. As one of the nation’s leading civil rights law firms, Relman Colfax is uniquely positioned to conduct investigations and audits because of its credibility within the civil rights and advocacy communities, extensive experience working with financial institutions, and longstanding relationships with regulatory and enforcement agencies.

Relman Colfax has extensive experience with complex civil rights audits. It conducted a civil rights audit of State Street Bank, assessing the Bank’s policies, practices, products, and services to identify actions it could take to accelerate progress toward racial equity in the United States. In conjunction with Laura Murphy, it conducted Facebook’s civil rights Audit, a two-year project that involved analysis and recommendations in seven different areas and included three public reports. The Firm previously assisted with an audit of Airbnb’s civil rights policies and practices, including conducting a review of its fair housing policies.

Similarly, Relman Colfax has conducted several comprehensive fair lending and fair housing assessments for financial entities. It has served as an independent fair lending monitor of Upstart Network, arising from Upstart’s agreement with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Student Borrower Protection Center.

Relman Colfax has long helped institutions of all sizes—including many of the largest financial institutions, FinTechs, and non-financial technology-based companies—to equitably meet the needs of the diverse communities they serve. The firm puts a premium on advancing these goals through practical and actionable recommendations, taking into account the specific business needs of its clients.

Featured Work

State Street Civil Rights Audit
In late 2021, State Street Corporation (State Street) hired Relman Colfax to complete an independent civil rights audit. The audit examined State Street’s business policies, practices, products, and services from a civil rights perspective. The final audit report was published on May 30, 2023.
Fair Lending Monitorship of Upstart Network’s Lending Model
In December 2020, Upstart Network (“Upstart”), the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (“LDF”), and the Student Borrower Protection Center (“SBPC”) entered into an agreement to appoint Relman Colfax to serve as an independent fair lending Monitor to evaluate and make recommendations regarding the fair lending implications of Upstart’s lending platform, and to issue a series of periodic reports on its findings and recommendations.
Relman Colfax and the Facebook Civil Rights Audit
Led by Megan Cacace, Relman Colfax conducted a two-year Civil Rights Audit of Facebook along with civil rights and civil liberties leader Laura Murphy. Megan and the Relman Colfax team provided analysis on the civil rights implications of the company’s policies and practices, and recommendations for improvement, and documented their findings in three public reports.

Racial Equity Audits and Independent Investigations

Featured Work

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