Report: Former Clifford Chance Associate Sues Firm for Discrimination

[WSJ_law_blog]

Earlier this week, we blogged about a Huffington Post article written by Yolanda Young. Young, a former staff attorney at Covington & Burling, argued that black attorneys at Covington have less opportunity for advancement than white attorneys.

Two days after Young’s article appeared, Caroline Memnon, a black Haitian woman, reportedly filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan alleging that Clifford Chance hired her only because of her race, never intended to give her any real work, fired her for complaining about it, and then blacklisted her from the New York legal community. Memnon is seeking $75 million in damages. Here’s the story from the NY Sun. (The complaint is unavailable online.)

“From the inception, the Clifford Chance partners failed to provide me with meaningful legal work,” Memnon reportedly claims in the suit. “I was afforded a series of pointless reviews at Clifford Chance where those performing the review declared that despite my obvious intelligence the practice of law ‘was not for someone like me.’”

A spokeswoman for Clifford Chance told the Law Blog, “We believe this claim to be without merit and will be contesting the case.”

Reportedly, the suit also claims that, after firing Memnon in 2002, Clifford Chance “surreptitiously ‘blackballed’ [her] within the community of New York law firms.” Memnon claims she had several interviews with prospective employers who then “mysteriously cancelled at the last minute and promises of employment at other New York law firms never materialized.” In early 2007, according to the report, Memnon was hired by Sullivan & Worcester, which then fired her in March. Sullivan & Worcester is reportedly named as a co-defendant in the suit. A spokeswoman at Sullivan told the Sun that the firm does not comment on pending litigation.

Law Blog readers: The issue of alleged racism at law firms is not new. Yet, we appear to be at a point in time when firms are being called on to account for both their diversity hiring practices and the advancement opportunities they provide for minority lawyers. As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts. We’d ask you, though, to please keep your fellow readers in mind and to keep the conversation civil.