Photo: J. Albert Diaz

A Korean-American former shareholder at Greenspoon Marder who lost his job last year is suing the law firm for racial discrimination, alleging the Fort Lauderdale-based lawa firm and the New York boutique it acquired in 2016 systematically denied him opportunities because of his race.

In a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Jun Chul Whang outlined a history of alleged discriminatory conduct over the 24 years he spent at Jacob, Medinger & Finnegan, which he claims continued when the firm was acquired by Greenspoon in April 2016. Whang said the same partners who withheld opportunities at Jacob Medinger were responsible for his termination from Greenspoon.

“Greenspoon's decision to terminate Whang was not a unilateral one based on neutral business needs, but rather one involving a conscious, measured decision to terminate Whang versus the white attorneys/partners in his practice group,” his attorney, Veronica Jung, contended in the complaint.

Jung declined to comment on the case. But she noted she's seen an uptick in the number of similar claims put forth by Asian-Pacific attorneys in the past year.

“In my practice, most of the cases that we resolve on behalf of high-level and often high-profile employees get resolved out of sight — in pre-litigation,” she said. 

That, obviously, was not the case for Whang.

A litigator whose practice focuses on products liability defense, Whang started work with Jacob Medinger in 1992. According to the complaint, the firm focused on representing tobacco companies, with Britain's Imperial Tobacco serving as its largest client before the 2016 merger with Greenspoon.

Whang contends he was a valuable contributor to the firm, bringing in new medical and scientific experts to aid in litigation and attracting other Korean-American attorneys who helped the firm attract new high-end corporate clients.

But he said he faced overt discrimination with the firm. One example was when the firm's local counsel for a case in Poland asked for his removal, advising against having a lead attorney of Asian descent. Whang said the attorneys at Jacob Medinger acknowledged the request was offensive and discriminatory but complied nonetheless.

Whang also said it took him 12 years to become a nonequity partner and another 10 years to become an equity partner when it took white attorneys only one to five years to make that second jump. When the promotion finally came, he contended it was not to reward him for service by allowing him to share in the firm's profits but rather to defray the firm's potential liabilities.

His promotion came shortly before Jacob Medinger was acquired by Greenspoon, which was home to about 180 attorneys at the time. When that happened, the firm's other four equity partners received a payment representing return on equity; as the newest equity partner, Whang, did not, according to the complaint.

Whang continued to be a productive attorney at Greenspoon, the complaint said, with new clients coming on board and Imperial Tobacco poised to increase the legal budget for Whang's practice group in 2018.

But instead he was terminated in May. Whang said he was told by Tim Finnegan, a name partner at Jacob Medinger, that the decision came from the firm's executive committee and was made to cut costs. But Whang was unconvinced, arguing the Florida-based executive committee would have needed input from the New York team to determine who to cut loose.

“Specifically, given the significant increase in workload for plaintiff Whang's team on Imperial Tobacco matters, it is implausible that Greenspoon's executive committee would make decisions about terminating senior lawyers on plaintiff Whang's team without discussing the matter with plaintiff Whang's JMF colleagues,” the complaint said.

Whang also compared Greenspoon's treatment of him with how it handled Finnegan, who was close to retirement. While Finnegan was not involved in business development activities for Greenspoon and had a smaller caseload, he was offered the opportunity to stay with the firm in an of counsel role, the suit claims. Whang did not receive this invitation and was fired with only 10 days' notice, according to the complaint.

Whang asserts his sudden termination has him with no job and diminished prospects nearly eight months later.

A spokeswoman for Greenspoon did not respond by deadline to a request for comment.

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