Lesbian Lawyer Files $50 Million Harassment and Discrimination Suit Against Firm That Denied Her Promotion
- www.towleroad.com December 23, 2009
Julie Kamps, a former associate of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson who is a lesbian, has filed suit against her former firm, saying she was denied partner because of her sexuality, and making several claims of harassment, Am Law Daily reports:
Kamps, who previously filed a less detailed complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claims that a female partner at Fried Frank sexually harassed her. She also alleges that the firm instructs lawyers to write exaggerated negative performance reviews about associates the firm wants out.
A firm spokeswoman did not immediately provide a comment in response to the suit. Kamps, a graduate of Harvard Law School, worked at Fried Frank from 1998 until January of this year, when the firm terminated her in the middle of an arbitration hearing.
In the complaint, to be filed this week, Kamps claims that Janice Mac Avoy, a litigation partner, “knowingly made unwelcome sexual advances and sexual comments to Kamps, both alone and in the presence of others.” Mac Avoy allegedly “told Kamps it was ‘the biggest regret of her life’ that she had not slept with Kamps ‘when she had the chance,’” and discussed various sexual acts with Kamps, the complaint states. Kamps also alleges that Mac Avoy encouraged her to “wear women’s clothes,” because William McGuinness, chair of the firm’s litigation department, believed Kamps’s preference for men’s shirts could “make clients uncomfortable.”
Kamps filed the $50 million suit yesterday: “A spokesman for the firm said the suit had ‘no substance.’”
