Former Ropes & Gray associate loses retaliation case
Jurors deliberated only 2½ hours Wednesday before rejecting a former associate’s retaliation lawsuit against Ropes & Gray.
Former associate John Ray III had claimed the law firm retaliated for his complaints about discrimination by refusing to give promised recommendations and later disclosed confidential information about the case to Above the Law.
Jurors found Ray didn’t act in good faith when he filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and when he wrote to Harvard Law School dean Martha Minow accusing the firm of retaliation, the National Law Journal reports.
A lawyer for Ropes & Gray had argued at trial that Ray’s EEOC claim, filed after he was informed he would not make partner, “was about threats and money” rather than discrimination.
Ropes & Gray had given Above the Law an EEOC letter that initially denied his discrimination and retaliation claims. The firm’s lawyer had argued at trial that it was entitled to do so to give a complete picture of the dispute after Ray released the EEOC’s final determination showing he had suffered retaliation to Minow and other parties.
Updated at 9:35 a.m. to correct second reference to Above the Law.
