Welcome back to The Pink Ghetto, a series where we take a look at some of the most appalling stories from one of the most sexist industries in the world: the legal profession. Today, we have a story from a Biglaw partner who is coming forward with her account about a sexual assault that was allegedly committed against her by another partner at the firm. She was inspired to do so by the women who chose to tell the world about their experiences with Brett Kavanaugh. This was taken from her public posting on Facebook that was sent to us by a reader. We’ve reached out to the firm in question for comment, and will publish an update here if we receive a response.
When you see things like this happening, say something. Together, we can inspire the change necessary to stop this disturbing behavior from being so prevalent in the law. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations of women in the law.
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Over a decade ago, at a law firm “retreat” which was in Pittsburgh that year, a man — my partner at [an Am Law top 50 firm], someone I considered a friend — took advantage of the fact that we both were in an unpopulated part of the hotel. I was coming back from the ladies room when I happened across him. He was drunk. He pushed me into a conference room, threw me face first onto the conference room table, and ripped open the top of my dress. I was really scared. I reminded him that he had met my father. I only escaped that situation without much worse happening because more people happened to walk by outside. My then-husband, also then a partner of the law firm, was livid and wanted to call the police. Most definitely I had been seriously assaulted. I told him we weren’t doing that. Why? Because I managed to escape the worst and I didn’t want to ruin his life – he has children and I thought about that too.
Several years later when the same man was inappropriate with me at another retreat in Arizona, I told my friend. She was then the managing partner’s assistant and felt compelled to inform management about it, and the earlier event, which I also told her about.
What did the firm do?
They sent the guy UNACCOMPANIED to my office to apologize. Utterly ridiculous.
A couple years later, the firm’s then-general counsel, now managing partner, watched, and neither said nor did anything, as a member of the management committee openly groped me at a social event.
I don’t know whether Kavanaugh assaulted anyone. But we cannot live in a country where women are afraid to tell people they have been assaulted, even if time has passed.
Do you have a law school or law firm story you’d like to see appear in The Pink Ghetto? Email me (subject line: “The Pink Ghetto”) or find me on Twitter, @StaciZaretsky. You will be kept anonymous. Submissions are always welcome.
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.