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Ivy League Law Student Arrested For Setting Fire At Sacred 9/11 Chapel

NEW YORK – An Ivy League law grad told his mom he must have been out of his mind to spark a blaze at a sacred 9/11 chapel – and now he’s out of a job, too.

White-shoe firm Sidley Austin yanked Brian Schroeder’s employment offer Monday morning, firm partner Bill Conlon said.

Schroeder, a Harvard Law School grad, worked in the firm’s New York office for part of the summer, Conlon confirmed.

He was supposed to return but lost the opportunity after cops say he set fire to a Manhattan chapel containing the remains of 9/11 victims in a drunken prank early Friday.

Sidley Austin — the nation’s seventh largest law firm, according to The National Law Journal — had five floors and some 600 employees in the north tower of the World Trade Center. One employee, switchboard operator Rosemary Smith, died in the attacks.

Schroeder’s mom told the News on Monday her 26-year-old son doesn’t remember how or why he committed the atrocious act.

“He doesn’t really have any explanation or memory of what took place,” Alice Schroeder said. “Now, he’s just trying to minimize the damage to his career and make amends. You know, take responsibility and move on.”

The stricken mother said the entire family is shocked.

“I’m appalled and my heart goes out to them,” she said of the families who had built memorials to loved ones lost in the 9/11 attacks at the E. 30 St. chapel. “Because I know it’s basically like a cemetery and a memorial that’s so very important. I just cannot imagine, nor can he, why he would have done that.”

Wooden benches and mementos that honored the dead were badly damaged, but the remains were not hurt, authorities said.

Schroeder was released on bail Sunday night, his mother said. He posted $3,000 bail, according to the city Department of Corrections.

Harvard law school friends also defended Schroeder Monday.

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