(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Well this is an interesting lawyer/disability claim. Erica Serine, an associate at Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, claimed that she needed an accommodation from her law firm because she has claustrophobia.
The associate claimed that she suffered anxiety on the elevator on the way to her office on the 24th floor in a Philadelphia hi-rise. She also said that she experienced symptoms when she couldn’t sit by the window.
Private Practice Lawyers: Rater Your Work With In-House Counsel
Please share your thoughts in this brief and anonymous survey.
She asked the firm to transfer her to one of three acceptable locations, and the firm did let her work from home for three months, but eventually she was let go.
Neither Serine nor Marshall Dennehey disclosed the details of the settlement.
Claustrophobia, the medical condition, is different from the general human desire to SEE THE SUN. I get that.
But it also feels like you should kind of know that you have claustrophobia before you sign up to work for a city law firm. There are plenty of firms spread out across this large country that wouldn’t require you to use an elevator. The window thing, like, fine whatever. But the elevator thing seems like a thing you can research before you interview with the firm.
How AI Is Transforming The Legal Profession (2025)
A survey of professionals reveals the impact of legal work, clients, concerns, and future roles.
YOU: I really don’t like elevators.
THEM: We use elevators.
YOU: Thanks for your time.
I mean, unless you only recently became claustrophobic — perhaps you’ve recently escaped capture — this is the kind of thing that you have to see coming when you are working on the 24th floor.
That said, once you have an associate with a disability that can be handled by a transfer to one of your less urban offices, it seems like the firm should at least try that out. Letting her “work from home” doesn’t address the problem. It puts the onus on her to magically overcome the problem, and I don’t think claustrophobia works like that.
Some kind of settlement feels like the most reasonable answer.
Law firm settles lawyer’s claim it failed to accommodate her claustrophobia [ABA Journal]
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.