Some close to the legal industry in Georgia and beyond believe a group’s challenge to two Big Law firms’ diversity fellowships likely will be the first of many efforts to end race-based programs intended to diversify the ranks of lawyers in the U.S.

The American Alliance for Equal Rights, led by conservative activist Edward Blum, filed federal lawsuits against the Perkins Coie and Morrison & Foerster firms on Aug. 22, alleging discrimination in their diversity fellowships and seeking to end them.