After social media outcry, Munger Tolles will no longer require mandatory arbitration
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Munger, Tolles & Olson will no longer require any of its employees to sign mandatory arbitration agreements after a copy of its agreement was leaked.
The law firm said in a Sunday afternoon tweet that it will no longer require summer associates or any other employees to sign the agreements, the American Lawyer reports.
Harvard law lecturer Ian Samuel had leaked the law firm’s proposed agreement Saturday on Twitter. Samuel is a former Jones Day associate.
The agreement had required summer associates to submit to mandatory, binding arbitration and claims relating to employment, including claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Sexual harassment claims can be made under Title VII.
The agreement also said that “the fact and content” of any arbitration proceeding must be held “in the strictest confidence,” though the information could be disclosed to legal counsel and insurers. The requirement applied “except as otherwise required by law or court order or as necessary to prepare for or conduct the arbitration.”
Munger, Tolles & Olson is committed to the highest standards of conduct. In this case, we were wrong, and we are fixing it. We will no longer require any employees, including summer associates, to sign any mandatory arbitration agreements.
— MTO (@mungertolles) March 25, 2018
This agreement comes courtesy of an anonymous Firstie. (Best listeners.) Munger wants all of its summer associates to agree to submit any claims of (among other things) workplace harassment to secret arbitration by an arbitrator of the firm’s selection. 2/ pic.twitter.com/Xrag42thXP
— Ian Samuel (@isamuel) March 25, 2018
