Inside The $50 Million Gender Discrimination Case A Partner Filed Against Proskauer Rose
So, what is really going on here?
The list of Biglaw firms fielding gender discrimination complaints now includes Proskauer Rose. On Friday the firm was hit with a $50 million lawsuit by a partner, identified only as Jane Doe from the D.C. office, alleging “substantial gender disparities” at the firm. The complaint claims Doe was subjected to objectification by two partners and her compensation lagged behind that of similarly situated male partners.
Doe alleges that her physical appearance was a frequent topic of conversation:
During her time at Proskauer, however, Plaintiff has been overtly objectified based on her sex. Proskauer Chairman Joseph Leccese frequently complimented Plaintiff’s appearance, describing her as “elegant” and “glamorous” and praising her “presence” and ability to “light up a room.”
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And goes on to make note of partner Ralph C. Ferrara’s alleged actions:
Almost every time he saw Plaintiff in the office, he made suggestive or inappropriate comments about her appearance. He drew close to her in a lascivious manner and made inappropriate comments regarding her appearance, body, clothing, or “sexiness.”
But the biggest allegations in the lawsuit — and the most familiar for those following other Biglaw gender discrimination lawsuits — concern female partner compensation lagging behind that of male partners. The complaint provides several comparable male partners and argues that Doe’s compensation is inappropriately lower than theirs. She also notes, “The Firm’s five highest paid male partners earn more than double the amount that the five highest paid female partners earn.”
Some of the key statistics the complaint draws attention to are plaintiff’s rankings as related to billable hour/origination, which are higher than her overall compensation ranking. Plaintiff is:
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* 6th among equity partners for billable hours;
* 18th among equity partners for origination;
* and yet, 32nd among equity partners for compensation.
Of course, lots of firms have other factors besides billables and origination that go into making up partner compensation, including client relationships and the dollar amount the firm was able to collect. And a source familiar with the firm notes Proskauer is not a strictly “eat what you kill” firm. That same source with details about the case also revealed that Doe’s 2016 compensation was higher than the average equity partner compensation.
Doe goes on to allege that after she complained, she was shunned by other members of the partnership:
[A]t a Partners’ luncheon, [an unnamed partner] turned his shoulder and pushed his right elbow at her chest, blocking Plaintiff from approaching him in front of other partners. This public shunning left Plaintiff feeling shaken, embarrassed, and isolated.
The firm has responded immediately and with plenty of gusto. They called the suit “meritless” and swung out at Doe’s potential motives for filing the complaint:
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The plaintiff offered little complaint about her compensation until just a few months ago, when her business began to decline dramatically and she apparently became fearful that her compensation might be reduced. Instead of seeking to rebuild her practice, she sought to squeeze a massive payout from our firm in exchange for her rapid departure and an agreement not to weaponize her blatantly inaccurate charges. This action resulted only when we refused to capitulate to such questionable tactics.
We will show that her complaint is riddled with situations that never occurred, statements that were never made and accusations contradicted by the facts.
The plaintiff left each of her two prior firms after just four years and just completed her fourth with ours. That might be her view of partnership. It is not ours.
They also noted how high her salary was within her practice group (5th out of 49 partners in the group).
In the Law.com article about this lawsuit, Scott Flaherty notes that there are only two women partners in the D.C. office, Connie Bertram, head of the D.C. Labor & Employment practice, co-head of the Whistleblowing & Retaliation Group, and head of the Government Contractor Compliance Group; and Ann Ashton, a securities and white-collar defense partner. However, only Bertram’s list of awards and recognitions on the firm’s website lines up with those cited by Doe in the complaint. Additionally, Bertram’s LinkedIn profile indicates she has been a partner at three Biglaw firms for just about four years each.
There are certainly benefits to suing as a “Jane Doe,” which could encourage others who are fearful their reputations may be put through the ringer should they come forward with similar allegations. However, given the amount of unredacted details provided in the complaint, it takes only a few minutes to connect the readily available dots. Indeed, Doe’s attorney — David Sanford, who’s also representing Kerrie Campbell in her suit against Chadbourne & Parke (coincidentally, Proskauer is representing Chadbourne in that case) — told Law.com, “The complaint is rich with detail. Some of the detail is redacted and at some point down the road it will get un-redacted.”
Given the amount of vitriol the parties seem to have towards each other, the case is likely to continue to have plenty more twists and turns for us to follow.
Read the full complaint and the firm’s response across the next two pages.
Partner Hits Proskauer with $50 Million Gender Bias Suit [Law.com]
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
