Biglaw

#TimesUp For This Biglaw Partner Who Got A New Gig After Being Quietly Pushed Out Of His Old Firm

The days of being able to slink away from under a cloud of allegations are probably over.

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There are many reasons why the #MeToo moment hasn’t fully crested in Biglaw yet, and a big one is that law firms know how to conduct internal investigations. They have the skills and experience to handle problems with maximum discretion. Once law firms decide to take sexual harassment seriously, they are in a good position to efficiently and quietly rid themselves of bad actors.

What’s less obvious is whether or not law firms, Biglaw firms in particular, are any good at due diligence before they make new hires. The downside of the efficient internal investigation is that potential bad actors are allowed to float away to new opportunities without serious questions being raised about their past behavior. One firm’s solution can become another firm’s problem.

Multiple sources report to Above the Law that Mayer Brown capital markets partner James R. Tanenbaum was fired from Morrison & Foerster’s New York office after allegations of sexual harassment there were supported by an internal investigation.

Sources report that Tanenbaum had a history of allegations of “sexual harassment” and “inappropriate behavior” at the firm.

A source tells us that management at the firm was first made aware of Tanenbaum’s behavior a little over two years ago. That source says that Tanenbaum was reprimanded, at that time, and told to never do it again.

But… two years ago was a different lifetime when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace. At least, let’s hope it was a different lifetime ago. Allegations against Tanenbaum resurfaced last year. One source, a partner at Morrison & Foerster who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity, said that the allegations against Tanenbaum were squarely in the sexual harassment category, “not assault.”

This time, Morrison & Foerster decided to bring in an independent outside firm to conduct an investigation into Tanenbaum’s behavior. Our sources report that Tanenbaum was asked to leave the firm the very day the report was finished. He left in December 2017.

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Of course, Morrison did not issue a press release about James Tanenbaum’s departure. There was no headline saying that Tanenbaum was pushed out over sexual harassment allegations. Morrison & Foerster declined to comment for this story.

Tanenbaum went away quietly, but he was also able to quickly find a new gig. Here’s the New York Law Journal headline:

MoFo Capital Markets Team Jumps to Mayer Brown

A source reports that a group of Morrison associates sent over a bouquet of flowers to Mayer Brown… thanking them for taking Tanenbaum “off their hands.” And that is pretty much the most MoFo thing to have ever happened.

However, we reached out to Mayer Brown about whether they had any kind of official knowledge of the allegations surrounding Tanenbaum at any point during the hiring process. This morning, Richard Spehr, the partner in charge of Mayer Brown’s New York office, informed us that Mayer Brown had accepted Tanenbaum’s resignation:

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Today, Mayer Brown accepted the resignation of James Tanenbaum, who recently joined the firm. His resignation follows assertions that Mr. Tanenbaum may have engaged in inappropriate conduct at his former firm. Mr. Tanenbaum has informed Mayer Brown that he forcefully denies these assertions, but that he has determined that resigning is in the best interest of Mayer Brown, its clients and the capital markets group. We wish Mr. Tanenbaum well.

We reached out to Tanenbaum directly as well, but he has not responded at the time of this writing.

Biglaw will not deal with its sexual harassment problems like Hollywood has. It will not be as public and as salacious as all that (despite a few high-profile incidents over the years).

My fear is that the industry will deal with the issue somewhat like the Catholic Church. Some of the most heartbreaking stories in the Church context are when you hear about priests who were shuttled from diocese to diocese, instead of being drummed out of the system altogether. Each individual parish handled its own problem, but in a way that allowed the problem to merely be transferred to somebody else’s account.

Our partner source said she was inspired to come forward by the courage of women at her firm and around the country who were also coming forward. She was proud that Morrison & Foerster did the right thing and got rid of Tanenbaum after an appropriate and fair investigation into the claims, but she also felt strongly that people needed to know what happened here.

“I don’t think he should be allowed to go away quietly.”

Earlier:

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 elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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