Law Firms
Associate Claims Houston Firm Retaliated for Reporting Racist Directive
A former associate with a Houston law firm alleges in a lawsuit that she was fired for reporting the comments of a top partner who told her not to hire any more black lawyers.
The former associate, Sandra Perez Ard, is suing Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, Texas Lawyer reports. Her suit claims partner Deborah Newman told Ard not to hire any more blacks to help with silicosis litigation, saying she did not want to be a minority in her own law firm.
Newman, who says she was the resident partner at the time of the alleged conduct, calls Ard’s charges “absolutely and completely false,” the legal publication says. “I would never, ever make a statement like that,” Newman said.
