Law Firms

Lawyer-Turned-Secretary Takes McGuireWoods Suit to Trial

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A lawyer-turned-legal secretary who is suing McGuireWoods claims in a Maryland trial now under way that she was illegally fired for taking time off to care for her ailing mother.

Nancy Adair said in her 2006 lawsuit that at the time of her firing she was working for Joseph Tirone in the firm’s Baltimore office. The suit called him a “notoriously difficult taskmaster” who “had been assigned many secretaries over the years,” the Maryland Daily Record reports.

Adair’s lawyer, Mary Keating, told jurors the firm violated the Family and Medical Leave Act by retaliating against Adair for taking time off.

Defense lawyer William Carrier III denied the claim, saying Adair was an able secretary but a problem employee because she was often late to work. He said her bosses had decided to let her go before she took time away from work to care for her mother.

A hat tip to Above the Law, which posted the story.

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