Would-Be Partner's $12M Suit Says Law Firm Discriminates Against Women
A would-be partner’s suit against one of Canada’s top-tier law firms doesn’t just claim that McCarthy Tetrault discriminated against her because of her gender. It contends that the firm systemically discriminates against other women lawyers, too.
But the Ontario-based firm, which has already paid Diane LaCalamita about $200,000 in severance, says it was LaCalamita’s performance issues, rather than sex discrimination, that led to her not being offered an equity partnership, reports the National Post. McCarthy Tetrault argues that she never had a “sustainable practice,” among other necessary attributes of an intellectual property litigation partner, and says she rejected its offer to help her build a drug and regulatory health practice.
Women lawyers at the firm are paid less, billed out at lower rates and promoted to equity partnership more slowly, and in smaller numbers, than male lawyers, LaCalamita contends in the lawsuit, citing a Catalyst Inc. report commissioned by McCarthy Tetrault. The intellectual property litigation practice group, of which she was a member, has never had a female partner, according to the suit, which says a “significant number” of female lawyers have left the firm.
The firm, in an answer to the April 15 complaint, says LaCalamita “never performed at the level required for admission to equity partnership” and argues that she didn’t meet deadlines, fell short of billable hours expectations and showed poor judgment as a litigator.
Although lawyers for both sides declined to comment, Kirby Chown, the firm’s Ontario regional managing partner, points out in an interview with the National Post that retention and promotion of women is a concern for law firms generally. “We have made significant efforts around this issue of retaining and advancing women, which is certainly something that doesn’t affect just us, but is something that affects the whole profession,” she says.
In addition to alleging widespread gender discrimination, LaCalamita’s $12 million suit contends that McCarthy Tetrault breached promises that it made to her when it persuaded her to leave her job at Aird & Berlis in 2003, in order to build up the McCarthy firm’s intellectual property litigation practice.
