New EEOC Agenda Poses Hurdles for Big Law General Counsel Pick

The Norton Rose Fulbright partner President Donald Trump nominated as EEOC general counsel will grapple with the challenge of steering the agency’s litigation as it rapidly shifts its approach to enforcing federal discrimination law.

Houston-based Carter Crow spent decades representing companies, many of which are in the energy sector, in employment cases, with an emphasis on wage and hour claims, according to Bloomberg Law analytics.

His Big Law background sets him apart from several previous Equal Employment Opportunity Commission general counsel, who had extensive experience in government or advocacy work.

He’ll face starkly different political pressures from his predecessors, as the EEOC adopts an agenda that includes investigating corporate diversity policies and paring back LGBTQ+ workplace protections, while dealing with record low staffing.

“There has historically at the EEOC been an emphasis on protecting the rights of vulnerable workers, or workers who maybe are not familiar with their rights under EEO law. And this administration has a different interpretation of what it means to be a vulnerable worker,” said Seyfarth Shaw LLP partner Andrew Scroggins.

Lucas’s Agenda

Republican Chair Andrea Lucas is set to enact a Trump-backed agenda, some of which could test the bounds of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Crow would carry out agency plans like bringing national origin-based lawsuits alleging hiring discrimination against American citizens, as well as rolling back EEOC work on transgender bias.

“EEOC Chair Lucas and Commissioner [Brittany] Panuccio have made it clear that they see President Trump, not the law, as their highest authority,” National Employment Law Project’s government affairs manager Josh Boxerman said in a statement.

“If confirmed, Carter Crow must follow the law and the agency’s mission, not Trump, Lucas, and Panuccio,” he said.

The EEOC’s caseload is mostly generated from charges filed to offices across 15 districts nationwide. Part of Crow’s job will be organizing field staff to align with the administration’s new goals, Scroggins said.

Getting regional attorneys, many of whom have spent years at the EEOC, to “reel in their own priorities” and match the chair’s, will be among Crow’s biggest challenges, he said.

The EEOC’s staff also decreased by roughly 400 employees since fiscal year 2024, despite being spared from widespread federal government layoffs, according to data pulled from the EEOC’s shutdown plan and past budgets.

“There’s a morale issue,” said Husch Blackwell LLP partner Samuel Mitchell. “We’ve seen significant staff departure and internal debate over new priorities particularly around LGBTQ and DEI enforcement. Crow is going to have to get in there and show some real leadership skills and lead through some rapid change.”

The low headcount, coupled with budget constraints, will require Crow to juggle priorities and decide which systemic cases to pursue. The EEOC’s 1,814 employees mark a 45-year staffing low.

The EEOC deferred request for comment to the White House, which declined. Crow declined to comment.

Big Law Benefits

Crow is a management-side employment attorney who spent over 25 years at Norton Rose, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’s now Global Head of Employment and Labor at the international firm.

It’s a markedly different trajectory from his predecessors. President Joe Biden’s pick Karla Gilbride had substantial nonprofit advocacy experience and President Barack Obama’s nominee David Lopez rose internally from the EEOC.

Crow is more akin to former President George W. Bush’s nominee Ronald Cooper, who came to the role with significant management-side background.

Crow is even different from the first Trump administration’s nominee, Sharon Gustafson, who was previously in solo practice, mostly representing workers.

Crow’s Big Law experience handling high stakes litigation and class actions, plus national peer recognition, benefits the EEOC, Mitchell said.

“If the objective is to find somebody who can get the different regional offices working together or drawing from a common playbook, that seems like relevant experience,” Scroggins said.

Much of Crow’s litigation track record appears typical employer-side fare, a significant portion of it wage and hour cases, according to Bloomberg Law litigation analytics, which draws data from federal court filings.

His cases include securing summary judgment in 2019 for Precision Drilling, which faced a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action by oil rig workers. The workers alleged the company illegally failed to pay them for time spent donning and doffing personal protective gear.

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2021 revived the case, but the US Supreme Court declined to hear it last year.

Nominee Credibility

Crow also represented employers in Title VII cases and litigation centered on other laws the EEOC enforces such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, analytics showed.

Crow was part of the team defending Texas A&M University from a challenge brought under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by Stephen Miller-founded America First Legal over a diversity hiring program.

A Texas federal judge in 2023 dismissed the case alleging a faculty fellowship program aimed at increasing diversity discriminated against White and Asian male candidates. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmedthat decision last year.

In defending the university, Crow’s team took the opposite perspective from what the EEOC is expected to claim in future challenges to company diversity programs.

“That to me just proves the point that he is an excellent lawyer. The fact that he can take both sides of the issue and advance them,” Mitchell said of Crow.

Crow’s focus through Big Law on serving clients’ business interests over social causes, may give him a more neutral public face for the administration’s more controversial priorities, like scrutiny of diversity or rolling back transgender protections.

That could boost his credibility as a nominee, Mitchell said.

“Especially with morale issues in the EEOC, I’m sure the commission is thinking that we need to have somebody at the helm who can bring order back to the commission and to serve as a capable, competent attorney at the top,” he said.