Proskauer Partner, Firm Resolve $50M Gender Bias Suit
Connie Bertram remains a Washington, D.C., partner at Proskauer, which she claimed "consistently underpays its top female talent."
August 11, 2018 at 09:37 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
Proskauer Rose partner Connie Bertram and her firm have agreed to end the $50 million gender discrimination lawsuit that Bertram lodged against the law firm last year.
The parties filed a stipulation of dismissal late Friday in Washington, D.C., federal court, saying they agreed to have the case tossed in its entirety. Further details on the agreement weren't publicly available in the court docket.
Kathleen McKenna of Proskauer, who led the firm's defense, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, while a firm representative said only that the matter has been resolved. David Sanford of Sanford Heisler Sharp, who represented Bertram, said in a statement, “unfortunately, we are unable to comment.”
The stipulation to dismiss the case follows a mediation process begun under an April court order. In the months since then, the two sides asked multiple times to push back a deadline to update U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District of Columbia on the status of the case and mediation.
The case landed in court in May 2017, when a then-unnamed Proskauer lawyer—initially dubbed “Jane Doe” and described as a Washington-based labor and employment partner—filed her complaint seeking at least $50 million in damages.
After proceeding as a Jane Doe lawsuit for nearly a year, Bertram in April revealed her identity in an amended complaint that also added some claims to the suit, which claimed Proskauer “consistently underpays its top female talent.”
Bertram, who remains a partner at the firm, has served as head of the D.C. labor and employment practice, co-head of the whistleblower and retaliation group and head of the government contractor compliance group. As of Saturday afternoon, Proskauer continued to list those leadership roles in Bertram's online firm biography.
The suit alleged substantial gender disparities in Proskauer's partnership and accused high-profile men at the firm—chairman Joseph Leccese and securities partner Ralph Ferrara—of making inappropriate comments about Bertram's appearance.
“Proskauer excluded plaintiff from client matters, declined to allow plaintiff to pitch or to participate in any employment litigation matter for firm clients, rebuffed her efforts to assume a greater leadership role at the firm, tolerated and facilitated an environment where she was targeted for harassment and humiliation by firm leadership, demeaned and belittled her to her peers and clients, and refused to rectify pay disparities,” the suit alleged.
Proskauer has strongly denied the allegations from the case's earliest stages. Answering Bertram's amended complaint, the firm in May accused her of relying on “cherry-picked” statistics to support her claims of unfair pay.
“She focuses on those metrics most favorable to her, ignores others that expose weaknesses in the profitability of her practice, and affords no recognition to non-metric factors critical to” compensation decisions, Proskauer wrote in May. “Plaintiff also ignores the financial rewards that she obtained by joining Proskauer.”
The firm also argued that Bertram's status as an equity partner at the firm makes her a business owner who should not be able to invoke anti-discrimination laws designed to protect employees. Bertram's lawyers have countered that “rank-and-file” partners at the firm have little control over its strategic or business decisions and effectively serve as employees as defined under anti-bias laws.
In March Jackson denied a bid by Proskauer to defeat the case on summary judgment. The judge set the two sides toward a period of limited discovery focused on the key initial question in the case: whether Bertram should be considered an employee.
The judge in April laid out a schedule for that discovery but also directed the two sides to mediation with a senior judge under an alternative dispute resolution proceeding established in the court's local rules.
Friday's dismissal comes almost exactly six months after plaintiffs lawyers at Sanford Heisler reached a settlement with Chadbourne & Parke and successor firm Norton Rose Fulbright in a similar case brought by a former Chadbourne partner, Kerrie Campbell. That deal involved at least $3 million in payments to Campbell and two other women, and Chadbourne also issued an unusual statement lauding Campbell's contribution “to important ongoing dialogue within the profession about gender issues.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllDominion Energy Accused of Terminating Employee for Remote Work Request Following Medical Leave
'Don't Be Afraid to Dumb It Down': Top Fed Magistrate Judge Gives Tips on Explaining Complex Discovery Disputes
Newly Formed DEI Practices Expect Heightened Demand During Trump Administration
Trending Stories
- 142. Elections Are Good for Big Law, Just Don’t Get Too Close
- 2Rudy Giuliani's Attorneys Seek Withdrawal in Debt Enforcement Case
- 3SEC, South Florida Developer Rishi Kapoor Reach Settlement
- 4Senate Democrats Advance 4th Circuit Pick Ryan Park’s Nomination
- 5Judge Rejects Meta’s Plea to Send FTC Antitrust Suit to Trash Heap
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250