Dechert Lied in Job Interview, Ex-Associate Claims
Former Dechert associate Marc Lubin has filed suit against the firm, claiming it lied to woo him to join the firm from Skadden in 2002, then fired him in part because he is an Orthodox Jew.
He made the move—even though it meant taking a 20 percent pay cut from his $215,000 Skadden salary—because he wanted experience in a wider variety of structured finance deals, according to the complaint filed in New York State court, Am Law Daily reports. The firm claimed it had plenty of work, and that it was Standard & Poor’s main outside counsel, the suit claims.
But when he arrived, the firm had only one deal ongoing, and when that ended, he was left to do “glorified paralegal work,” he claims.
He was fired in 2004, and told by a partner that it was because of the quality of his work and because he “was different”—which Lubin understood to mean his faith, which required him to eat kosher food and skip the firm’s holiday party.
He’s seeking $6 million in back pay, lost earnings, and punitive damages. Dechert did not return calls for comment from Am Law Daily.
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