In an opinion yesterday, Judge Oetken denied the defendants’ pre-discovery summary judgment motion in a sex discrimination suit against the law firm Chadbourne & Parke and certain partners. The defendants argued that the named plaintiffs, as firm partners, did not qualify as “employees” of the firm for purposes of the relevant discrimination statutes because of their titles and because of the terms of the partnership agreement.
Judge Oetken concluded, however, that the plaintiffs were entitled to discovery to prove whether the various factors distinguishing employees and owners were present in the case, and focused in particular on whether the firm was really run by a centralized Management Committee, as opposed to the partners generally:
Continue Reading Judge Oetken: Law Firm Partners Can Be “Employees” for Purposes of Sex Discrimination Suit, Based on Control by Management Committee