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Seven top law firms appear to have settled sex discrimination claims since early 2017, according to analysis of an employment tribunal database.

Listings of claims filed against companies at U.K. employment tribunals show Clyde & Co, Dentons, DLA Piper, DWF, Kennedys, Linklaters and Ropes & Gray have faced sex discrimination claims during the period. DWF had two such claims.

In all cases, the claims were "dismissed on withdrawal" from the claimant, which typically means a settlement has been reached, according to employment partners. Not one of the claims made it to trial.

Shoosmiths also faced a sex discrimination claim that was withdrawn, but the firm said it was not settled and that the sex discrimination part of the dispute was made in error and withdrawn by the claimant's lawyer. Legal Week was unable to contact the claimant.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is currently facing a claim, the database showed, and Simmons & Simmons had a claim against it dismissed because the claim was not made in the jurisdiction of the tribunal, according to the filings.

In total, the public database has recorded 3,858 sex discrimination claims filed against companies at U.K. employment tribunals since February 2017.

Clyde & Co, DLA Piper, Dentons, DWF, Linklaters, Ropes & Gray and Simmons & Simmons declined to comment. Paul Weiss confirmed the claim was ongoing but declined to comment further. A Kennedys spokesperson said: "Kennedys takes all form of harassment and discrimination extremely seriously."

In June, a House of Commons committee published a report criticising the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and settlement payments by employers facing claims, as they "prevent the employee from speaking about the alleged behaviour – even unlawful behaviour – without those allegations ever being investigated and without any sanctions for perpetrators".

Last year, the committee also called for lawyers who misuse NDAs to silence victims of sexual harassment to face "serious sanctions".

In March last year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) issued a warning notice on the use of NDAs, with a stipulation of what it considered to be an improper use of the agreements.

The regulator said that if a lawyer or a law firm uses an NDA "as a means of preventing, or seeking to impede or deter, a person from reporting misconduct, or a serious breach of our regulatory requirements to us", or to a law enforcement agency, including the police, then its use was improper.

The notice also states: "NDAs or other settlement terms must not stipulate, and the person expected to agree the NDA must not be given the impression, that reporting or disclosure as set out above is prohibited."

Earlier this year, Allen & Overy employment partner Mark Mansell was referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for his role advising Miramax, which Harvey Weinstein co-founded, in 1998 when the disgraced producer's then-assistant Zelda Perkins accused him of sexual harassment.

It emerged last year that the NDA drawn up by Mansell set out a provision that appeared to limit Perkins' ability to make disclosures in cases of civil or criminal legal processes.