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Dude, Where’s Her Car? Ex-Counsel Sues Skadden

Monday, July 14, 2008 8:54 PM - By David Lat

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher Flom LLP new logo.jpgThe global megafirm that is Skadden is known for its “work hard, play hard” culture. We were hoping to get the chance to observe it firsthand, after one of the Skadden Insider bloggers toyed with the idea of inviting us to the firm’s 60th anniversary celebration on Ellis Island last month. Alas, it didn’t happen.

Skadden’s “macho” firm culture has been raised in a lawsuit that was covered in the press last week. From an article by Anthony Lin in the New York Law Journal:

Rita W. Gordon, a former counsel in the firm’s litigation department, was fired in 2005 for allegedly inappropriately charging clients for personal car service use. The firm reported her to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee and reimbursed several clients.

But Gordon claims her car service use was no different from that of other lawyers at the firm and that Skadden’s real aim “was to find a non-discriminatory excuse for terminating a 60-year-old woman and replace her with a younger man whose demeanor and conduct was more consistent with the ‘macho’ image of Skadden’s Litigation Department.”

Gordon filed suit against the firm and senior litigation partner Samuel Kadet in August 2006.

One former Skaddenite is surprised about Kadet being named as a defendant:

[O]f all the partners in the Skadden Litigation department, Sam Kadet is widely recognized as being one of the most polite and genuinely caring individuals there. While it’s not shocking that any Big Law firm might be on the receiving end of these allegations, it struck me as bizarre that Sam Kadet was personally named, given his exceedingly positive reputation.

Here’s another aspect of Rita Gordon’s case that some might find a little odd. From the NYLJ article:

According to her suit, Gordon was summoned to Kadet’s office in May 2005 and summarily fired for unauthorized car service charges totalling $50,000. Gordon claims the figure was reduced to $23,000 over a five-year period when the firm reported her to disciplinary authorities two weeks later.

Fifty grand in car service charges? Talk about a carbon footprint. Translated into Unlimited Ride MetroCards, that would have purchased Gordon about fifty years’ worth of subway usage.

But, global warming be damned, Gordon wasn’t a much of a straphanger:

Skadden lawyers are permitted to take cars home when they work past a certain hour at night, as well as at other times when client service demands. But Gordon is arguing she was justified in taking cars to and from her apartment at times other than late at night because she worked on client matters at home. She claims a 1994 back injury made it painful for her to sit at her desk for long hours or to work on papers back and forth on the subway.

Sitting at a desk for long hours? Isn’t that the definition of being an attorney?

(In all seriousness, if Gordon did have the need for some sort of accommodation, she probably should have cleared it with firm management in advance, with appropriate documentation placed in her personnel file. Just our two cents.)

Car Service at Issue in Age, Sex Discrimination Claim Against Skadden [New York Law Journal]
Lawyer v. Law Firm: A Law Blog Roundup [WSJ Law Blog]
Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses [Skadden Insider]

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Posted in: Cars, Feminism, Gender, Old People, Skadden Arps

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