Biglaw

Amal Clooney's #MeToo Moment -- Will Biglaw Face Its Own Sexual Harassment Reckoning?

Being smart didn't stop Amal Clooney from having her own #metoo moment.

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(Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

As the #metoo has only increased in its virality over the last week, one thing is for certain: no industry is above reproach. Stories from cis women, trans women, trans men, and non-binary folks recognizing the bizarre bond of all being on the receiving end of sexual harassment or assault have been passed around the internet, revealing this sort of abuse is only too common.

Now comes a report that one of the most famous lawyers in the world, human rights attorney Amal Clooney, has had the same experience. George Clooney spoke to Entertainment Tonight about his wife’s own issues with sexual harassment at law firms:

“She’s faced those exact kinds of situations in law,” he said. “It’s everywhere and so it needs to be addressed as if it’s a problem for all of us. And we have to take it on full force because the kind of assault that we’re talking about now is … it’s so infuriating that this was allowed to go on as long as it did.”

It’s just more evidence that the legal profession is not immune from sexual harassment. It’s not about what you’ve done or what you wear, and wrapping yourself in an elite law degree won’t stop the problem. It is a deeper, societal issue and a hashtag can only scratch the surface.

Vivia Chen at the Careerist doesn’t think that Biglaw will have its own “come to Jesus” moment. She argues that since Hollywood sells sex, there’s a difference in degree between the harassment experienced in the two industries:

Unlike Hollywood, the legal profession is not in the business of selling sex. The nice thing about law is that it’s a hopelessly nerdy profession. What counts in landing a job in Big Law—for a man or woman—are academic creds, not sex appeal. I’ll bet that even Angelina Jolie wouldn’t get a callback at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher unless she went to a T-14 law school and earned top grades. (Gibson is notoriously grade-obsessed.)

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Angelina Jolie might not get a Biglaw callback without the grades, but once she gets the callback, she is sure as shit getting an offer.

There are obviously differences between a Biglaw firm and Hollywood, but academic creds don’t stop abusers. Look at what we are hearing about Clooney’s experiences. Or just ask Elizabeth Warren, who recently detailed her own #metoo moment as a young professor. If there’s something nerdier than Biglaw, it’s legal academia, and yet Warren still found herself being chased around a colleague’s office.

Chen also argues that Biglaw doesn’t see the worst of sexual abuse (though she rightfully acknowledges sex discrimination is widespread in the industry) because the power dynamic isn’t as severe between a partner and an associate:

And as intimidating as some partners might be, they don’t wield power over underlings as do movie fat cats who can instantly make or break careers. I can’t imagine that a young associate will feel she’ll be forever shut out of Big Law unless she submits to a powerful partner’s proposition. Sure, there’s a huge gender gap in power and position in law firms, but women with law degrees, generally speaking, have much more power than aspiring starlets.

First of all, there are more than just associates under the purview of a partner. Paralegals, administrative workers and secretaries can all find themselves vulnerable to a lecherous person in a position of power. And though power in a Biglaw firm can be more diffuse among a variety of seemingly equal partners than at movie studio, plenty of partners run their books of business as little fiefdoms, with almost no direct accountability to the partnership. Except for their billable hours.

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Maybe a young associate says no, but then finds themselves getting less work from that partner. Perhaps it doesn’t even feel like retaliation, but an avoidance of an awkward situation. Of course a male associate still has the opportunity to work for the partner. It seems like she’s avoided a bad situation all the way around… until the end of the year, when that dip in billable hours is reflected in her bonus check.

Power works in lots of dynamic, complex ways. It isn’t an exact replication of the situation that makes #metoo viral, but seeing the similarities, not the differences, in all our stories. It may be true that no summer associate interview is being done with a partner in a bathrobe, but it still touches a nerve with a lot of women in Biglaw. And we hear the stories to back it up.

While no lawyers have yet been named as serial abusers anywhere near the level of Harvey Weinstein, it’s wishful thinking to assert there aren’t any lurking in Biglaw’s closet.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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