A former Pryor Cashman associate who claimed he was pushed out because the firm wanted to make way for someone three decades younger has fended off the firm's bid for summary judgment, with a New York federal judge saying the case can proceed to trial.

Alan Laufer, who was 61 when he was fired in 2015, claimed in his lawsuit that senior lawyers at the firm declined to promote him despite his strong track record and eventually terminated him because they wanted to bring younger lawyers into the partnership.

Pryor Cashman sought to have the suit thrown out once discovery was complete, but U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken concluded that a jury could go either way.

“To be sure, Laufer has hardly presented an overwhelming case,” the judge wrote. “But when construed in the light most favorable to Laufer, the evidence offers a discriminatory narrative that a juror could reasonably believe, depending on her view of the witnesses' credibility.”

Laufer claimed he was hired by Pryor Cashman as a temporary attorney in 1997, when he was 43. Richard Kay, his supervisor, made him an associate the next year, making him the firm's oldest associate and the trusts and estates group's sole associate, Oetken wrote. Laufer held onto both of those titles until he was sacked, the suit said.

Kay and other top lawyers at the firm—including partner Eric Woldenberg, who oversaw Laufer, and managing partner Ronald Shechtman—said generally in depositions that Laufer's work was good enough, but not exemplary, and that he made mistakes, angered other partners and had issues in face-to-face meetings with clients. He acted ”robotically,” according to Kay.

Laufer, however, testified that none of that was ever brought to his attention and suggested that the characterizations were part of an after-the-fact scheme to justify his termination. He said he never once received a performance review, but was a top revenue generator in the years leading up to his firing, ranking fifth among Pryor Cashman's 60 to 70 associates, the judge wrote.

A spokeswoman for Pryor Cashman said the firm has not discriminated and said Laufer faced a low bar on the summary judgment motion. The firm also expressed confidence that it would prevail at trial.

“This law firm has never discriminated against anyone at any level in our entire history,” the firm's statement said. “Mr. Laufer was fired for more than sufficient reasons having nothing to do with his age.”

Valdi Licul, a partner at Vladeck Raskin & Clark who represents Laufer, hailed the decision and said his team and his client are “looking forward to our day in court.”

Pryor Cashman is representing itself in the case.