'Frat house' mood alleged in suit against Nelson Brown; lawyer says she was fired for not fitting in
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A fired associate claims in a lawsuit that she was excluded from department meetings and worked in a “frat house” atmosphere at the Pennsylvania law firm now known as Nelson Brown Hamilton & Krekstein.
The suit by Elizabeth Bailey claims she was fired in November 2013 because one of her supervisors in the subrogation department believed she was not fitting in. He allegedly told Bailey she would make a great lawyer but “not here.” The Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.) has a story on the suit, filed on Monday in federal court in Philadelphia.
Bailey had worked as a law clerk at the law firm before becoming an associate in the subrogation department. She says she was excluded from department meetings and was not given information needed to do her job. She also claims she was subjected to discriminatory comments and actions, including:
–Bailey was not invited to an October 2013 seminar until the last minute, while all the department’s male attorneys had previous invitations. She and the only other female in the subrogration department were not included on a list of attendees. The two women were not introduced to clients at the seminar, Bailey alleges, and they were excluded from a golf event during the lunch break to which all the male attorneys had been invited.
–When Bailey questioned comments that a male partner made about a case, she was told, “You’re in a big boys’ club now. You’re going to have to be a big girl and not have feelings about this kind of thing.”
–Another supervisor told Bailey and the other female lawyer in the department that they should do a “girls of subrogation” calendar.
–When discussing a news report about rape and domestic violence, a male lawyer said of the female victim, “You don’t know what she did to deserve it.”
Bailey said she complained to the firm’s general counsel in 2013 that she was subjected to sexist conduct and the subrogation department was like a “frat house.” She was promised a meeting with the subrogation department to discuss the complaints but it never materialized.
The suit names as defendants Nelson Brown and the law firm as it was known when it employed Bailey: Nelson Levine de Luca & Hamilton. Bailey’s two supervisors left the firm last year.
Nelson Brown chairman Michael Nelson told the Legal Intelligencer the firm does not comment on pending litigation. A former supervisor told the publication he denied the allegations but could not comment further.
