Female Law Partner Loses Sex Discrimination Case
As reported yesterday in Above The Law, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a sex discrimination case filed by a female law partner. The partner, Alyson Kirleis, worked for Dickie McCamey in Pennsylvania since 1988. From the Legal Intelligencer (via Above the Law who got if from The Careerist):
In the suit, Kirleis accused Dickie McCamey of paying female lawyers less than males and alleged she was told by a male partner that a woman with children should relinquish her partnership and work only part-time.Kirleis, who has worked at the firm since 1988, also claimed she was told by another male partner that the role of women lawyers was to prepare lawsuits for trials that would be handled by male lawyers. The suit also included allegations that Kirleis has suffered retaliation since her suit was filed, and that Dickie McCamey’s annual Christmas party is effectively closed to women “because of the sexually explicit nature of the entertainment including skits, songs, pornographic materials and props.”
The Court apparently was unmoved by fairly clear evidence of unequal treatment. It is known that female law partners earn about $66K less per year then male partners and Ms. Kireis was clearly facing different standards than men. Nonetheless the Court held that a law partner cannot sue her own law partnership because she is an owner and has some control over management and policies herself. This ruling looks like a cop out to me because it seems pretty clear that Ms. Kirleis did not have the ability to impact the firm's treatment of women - if she did she probably would have raised her pay and punished her bigot partners. She clearly did not have enough votes so she looked to the courts for help and got nothing. I hope she appeals this one to the USSC that now has more female members.
