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Labor & Employment

High-Profile Ex-Staff Attorney’s Lawsuit Against Covington & Burling Is Dismissed

Posted May 29, 2009 1:34 PM CST
By Martha Neil

A discrimination suit filed earlier this year by a high-profile former staff attorney against Covington & Burling and five current or former lawyers there has been dismissed.

In a order (PDF) filed today, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton of the District of Columbia dismisses the case without prejudice for want of prosecution, saying that plaintiff Yolanda Young and her counsel failed to appear at a scheduled status conference this morning.

Walton says in the order that the plaintiff's failure to appear follows earlier violations on her part of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and local rules, as well as Young's "conducting herself in a manner that has impeded the defendants' ability to defend against this action." Among the examples of such conduct that he cites in a footnote are not responding on a timely basis—or, in one instance, at all—to two defense motions.

A written statement provided to Above the Law, by Covington & Burling's defense counsel recounts the procedural posture of the case.

An author and blogger as well as an attorney, Young describes her background in On Being a Black Lawyer.

Young declined to comment to Above the Law about the dismissal. Although she posted on her blog on the Covington case on Feb. 24 and March 30, it doesn't appear that Young has yet made any comment there about the dismissal.

Earlier coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "Covington Returns Yolanda Young Fire, Says Ex-Staff Lawyer Had Lackluster GPA"

ABAJournal.com: "High-Profile Ex-Staff Lawyer Sues Covington & Burling, Alleges Discrimination"

Updated at 2:55 p.m. to include links to Young's blog.

Comments

1.

B. McLeod
May 29, 2009 2:03 PM CST

The comment from the filing:
______________________________________
Posted by B. McLeod - 3 months, 5 hours, 37 minutes ago:

Seems unlikely the firm (probably insured for this risk) will become bankrupt over it, but we shall see.  In addition to the Complaint itself, it is probably not a good sign that the plaintiff is having to proceed pro se (and that the lawyer whose name she dropped in communications with the Am Law Daily disavows any representation).  He likely told her this was not a good suit (which would also explain why she wouldn’t spend any money to retain other counsel).  This seems like a very unequal contest at this point.  On one side, we have a well-heeled defendant, represented by Akin Gump, and on the other side, plaintiff, who failed as a staff attorney, after an abortive career apparently spent in document reviews.  While the federal courts are usually somewhat careful not to be too hard on pro se litigants, this tends to be less true where the litigant is a lawyer, and has filed a pleading basically crafted to slime the defendants.  I am afraid this case won’t last long enough for me to eat much popcorn.
______________________________________

And indeed, not much popcorn at all.  I’ve been to parties that lasted longer than this lawsuit.

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2.

B. McLeod
May 29, 2009 2:14 PM CST

Next prediction - Rather than acknowledging that she may have been incorrect in her perceptions of the firm and/or its conduct, the plaintiff will likely now lash out with strident allegations that the federal court, too, is a racist institution and part of the same, vast conspiracy to oppress minority staff lawyers.

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3.

jkl
May 30, 2009 4:02 AM CST

Yolanda Young did not want to be a lawyer.
She wants to further her writing career. See

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yolanda-young/law-firm-segregation-remi_b_91881.html


http://books.google.com/books?id=J9d-cN6QFIYC&dq=Yolanda+Young&printsec=frontcover&source=an&hl=en&ei=1ekgSoz7OtaMtgeQ_uSrBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5


http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?page_id=2


She filed this high profile lawsuit to get publicity.
It’s that simple. She doesn’t car about any “black mark” as she knows there is no such thing as “bad publicity.”

Black pappy. If you did around on preious thread and other news you will find that she was an AA admit at Georgetown who had a C average. She graduated in 1995 and did not pass the bar until 1998. She was not a typical Biglaw Associate. She was a contract attorney.

I don’t think she figured out that all contract attorneys get treated badly.

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